Large cruise vessels have been few and far between in Nanaimo. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

beleaguered business

Ailing cruise ship business flat in Nanaimo as industry returns from COVID closure

Apr 6, 2022 | 5:24 AM

NANAIMO — Entering another year with no cruise ships arriving in Nanaimo, it’s unclear what the beleaguered industry’s future looks like in the Harbour City.

No vessels are coming this year, while none are committed at this point to the 2023 season.

Nanaimo Port Authority president and CEO Ian Marr said the market “is really hard” as the industry picks itself back up following a two year pandemic shutdown.

“You have to work a lot harder to make it viable again.’ Marr told NanaimoNewsNOW.

As a little used port of call for cruise lines, Marr said it has been a challenge to establish the industry locally.

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“Trying to create other routes or other things for people to do can be a little tough because they’re trying to bring their revenues back up and get back to an operating condition for their whole industry.”

If the cruise business rebounds overall this year, Marr hopes Nanaimo can benefit in the future.

“Before everything got shut down we did have seven on the dock, that was a decent start to where we were trying to go.”

Nanaimo didn’t morph into the cruise ship market the NPA hoped, which declared a goal of attracting upwards of 30 cruise ships annually following the dock opening in 2011.

A then record-setting cruise ship season in 2007 saw 15 large cruise ships and 21 smaller cruise lines visit, prompting the senior levels of governments to provide a bulk of the required capital costs.

Marr, whose been with the NPA for 35 years, recalled cruise operators pledging assurance they’d visit Nanaimo if a dock appeared.

“Obviously it didn’t happen. Things changed, operators changed, a person in control changes — all that kind of stuff. Hard to say why, you’ll never get the real answer.”

He said the NPA wants to attract higher numbers of smaller cruise ships in the 600 to 1,000 passenger range.

Vancouver and Victoria, both long established strong players in the cruise ship industry, both attract hundreds of cruise visits annually.

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