By Dan Marshall

Nanaimo’s 2016 cruise ship season comes to a close

Oct 21, 2016 | 12:43 PM

NANAIMO — The last of six cruise ships to visit Nanaimo this year docked this week.

The Star Princess had nearly 2600 people on board, and Nanaimo Port Authority president Bernie Dumas says those passengers all inject money into the Nanaimo and central island economy.

“Going downtown, going to visit the shops, a lot of them jumped on buses off to Cowichan Valley for the wine country and up to Cathedral Grove and Port Alberni for the steam train. We’re talking on average about between $50 and $100 or so from each one of these people,” said Dumas.

The cruise industry is constantly evolving and Dumas says those changes should allow Nanaimo to attract more vessels down the road.

“There’s more carriers coming on stream,” said Dumas. “There’s a few new carriers that will probably materialize in the system in 2018. We’re going to have maybe another year or two of five to seven calls a year and then hopefully we’ll kick into our goal which is trying to get 15 or 20 or 25.

Making an impact

Nanaimo woman publishes books to open awareness of neurodiverse children

8h ago

iconic voice

Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole, a welcome voice for a half-century, dead at 90

15h ago

first response

New staffing model on Gabriola Island hires local paramedics for enhanced patient care

20h ago

Nanaimo is well behind nearby Vancouver in Victoria in terms of the number of large cruise chip passengers in 2016.

It’s estimated more than 800,000 people visited Vancouver, just over 533,000 traveled to Victoria, and only 13,000 made a visit to Nanaimo.

Dumas notes that while Vancouver and Victoria have full cruise schedules, Nanaimo has an opportunity for growth.

“We’re still wrestling with attractions,” said Dumas. “Global attractions, high end attractions is what these ships are really looking at. We’ve got some really good dialogue with the city and the Snuneymuxw First Nation about Newcastle Island.  

“I’m excited to get finally get that dialogue going that maybe we can create a really unique local experience and use Newcastle.”

In many cases cruise ship carriers are booking 12-18 months in advance so the Port Authority is looking now at bookings for the 2018 season.