ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The number of cruise ships visiting St. John’s continues to increase —and markedly so this year.
More than 40,000 passengers and about 16,700 crew are set to visit the capital city between April and October onboard 38 ships.
Coun. Debbie Hanlon, St. John’s city council representative on the Cruise NL board, said she believes it’s the highest number of cruise ships to visit the city in one season to date.
Hanlon said 27 ships were scheduled to visit St. John’s last year, but three had to cancel, so there were 24 actual visits in 2018.
That equals a 58 per cent increase from actual cruise ship visits in 2018 to the number expected to arrive this year.
Hanlon said cruise vessels are coming earlier in the spring and visiting later in autumn — increasing the length of the cruise season.
The first ship of this season is scheduled to arrive April 10. Oceania’s Marina is expected to bring 2,402 passengers and 780 crew.
T
he last cruise ship scheduled to arrive in 2019 is Phoenix Reisen’s Amadea on Oct. 27. That ship will bring an estimated 600 passengers and 292 crew.
There are two planned overnight stops, which Hanlon said is “amazing” in terms of bringing in more business than when ships typically dock for several hours.
“When they come overnight, some (people) stay in hotels, some go to restaurants — there’s much more activity.”
Hanlon said cruise ship visits especially benefit motor coach and bus companies, buskers, restaurants, tourist sites, and clothing stores.
The news of the number of cruise ships expected this year comes around the same time Memorial University hosted visiting speaker Burc Kayahan from Acadia University.
He gave a talk Friday about the economic impact of cruise tourism in Atlantic Canada.
A poster for the talk explained a preliminary result of Kayahan’s research on the economic impact of cruise tourism in the region — namely, while the cruise industry plays an essential role in the regional economy of Atlantic Canada, “its relative contribution to the tourism sector is modest.”
The event poster also stated the preliminary research results suggest average cruise passenger spending per person in 2016 constant dollars is about $40 in St. John’s, and that average cruise ship crew expenditures per person is roughly $20 less than average passengers.
Kayahan declined an interview request with The Telegram because his research results are still preliminary.
However, Hanlon, who also sits on the Downtown St. John’s board, said many of the retailers downtown don’t feel they benefit enough from cruise ships.
“They’d like to see more consumers spending more money,” she said.
“Are the people getting off the ships walking around spending hundreds of dollars? I don’t think so. … But … it would have would have a great economic impact – it’s got to. You can’t have 40,000 people come into your city and it not have an impact.”
Hanlon said there are always more ways to increase revenues from tourism and such work is ongoing.
She said the number of ships the city and province sees today is the result of a lot of work and relationship-building with cruise lines by various groups in the province.
Hanlon attended a conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last year called Seatrade, where she worked to build relationships with cruise lines and to market the city and province as a port of call. She said it’s that kind of work that’s helping to grow the cruise industry in the province.
“Definitely there have been relationships that started there that ended up with the vessels coming here to Newfoundland.”
Other communities scheduled to see cruise ships visit this year include Rose Blanche, St. Anthony, Twillingate, Woody Point, Rigolet, Nain, Red Bay, L’Anse aux Meadows, Francois, Corner Brook, Ferryland and more.
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