Is the season over before it even begins?

While the huge cruise ships make their first appearance in Prince Rupert later today, all is not rosy in the Prince Rupert tourism sector this spring as we head into the summer season.

The sinking of the Queen of the North has already begun to have its impact on the 2006 tourist season for the North coast. And the financial ramifications of that tragedy will be felt from the Queen Charlotte Islands all the way to Prince George and beyond.

While B. C. Ferries said they would look near and far for a replacement vessel for the Queen of the North, so far that search has not been particularly successful. The chances for a return to the full level of service of past years along the North Coast routes seems completely gone for this season and that is going to cause a lot of hurt for small, medium and large businesses that depend on tourist dollars to keep their businesses healthy.

With a much reduced schedule for the remaining Queen of Prince Rupert, Tourism officials are expecting that the number of travelers along the Highway 16 corridor will drop significantly this summer and with that reduction a major hit is going to happen in many communities of the North.

A report commissioned by Tourism Prince Rupert has outlined a scenario where everything from Bed and Breakfasts to hardware stores and campgrounds will find the summer of 2006 to be a rather challenging year. With many businesses along Highway 16 struggling to keep afloat.

While the streets may seem a little crowded on Wednesday and Thursday with the teeming crowds from the Cruise ships, the larger and more profitable crowds of the long distance travelers will be much lighter this year.

We provide the Daily News story below with its complete report on the situation. It explores what the various communities expect from the year and what they have learned from this sudden and very expensive setback to what was a growing tourist sector.

FIRMS STRUGGLE TO STAY AFLOAT AFTER FERRY’S LOSS
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Pages One and Three

Businesses that rely on tourist dollars are expecting a crippling season following the sinking of the Queen of the North, according to a report by Tourism Prince Rupert.

And the impact of the severed transportation link is going to ripple down Highway 16 and beyond into those industries that serve tourism businesses.

The report, which measures the short-term impact of reduced ferry service in the North, includes data from businesses all the way southeast to Prince George and west to the Queen Charlotte Islands.

“The reduced service to the Inside Passage is a huge blow to our property. Probably about 75 percent of our summer traffic is either arriving or departing on the ferry to Port Hardy,” wrote one hotelier.

Another hotel anticipates a loss of at least $200,000 from cancelled bus tours, and bookings at a B & B “appear to have dried up” since the sinking. Hostels are bracing for visitor reductions in excess of 70 per cent.

The Queen of Prince Rupert, which has to service both the Inside Passage and Queen Charlotte Islands this summer, will only be allowed to carry 250 passengers due to limited amenities on board and will have to continue on its winter schedule, with two sailings on the Inside Passage per week and three to the Queen Charlotte Islands.

The ripple effect from the loss of tourist capacity – from more than 45,000 passengers on the Inside Passage down to around 9,500 this season and from 57,000 on the Queen Charlotte Islands to 14,250 – carries all the way down Highway 16.

In Prince George, one bed and breakfast estimated they get 80 per cent of their business from independent travelers arriving from or going to the Inside Passage ferry.

Meanwhile, the Vanderhoof Visitor Centre and Chamber of Commerce said that Visitor Centre sees 6,000 tourists with more than 50 per cent going to or from the Inside Passage ferry. In Smithers, the impact is expected to be equally devastating.

“It was very clear that all of the impacts of this crisis upon Prince Rupert and all of the concerns of our residents, exactly matched those in Smithers and their immediate neighbours,” said Bruce Wishart, executive director of Tourism Prince Rupert.

The reduced service not only impacts businesses directly associated with tourism, but also those that serve the industry – from hardware stores selling fishing tackle, to kiosk operators at the ferry terminal, to campground operators, taxi services and vending machine owners, them pact is expected to ripple outwards.

The tourism sector has become an important part of the northwestern economy in recent years as other sectors, such as forestry, have experienced challenges.

And the growth in tourism has been tremendous.

“Some years, wildlife operators have seen increases of 100 per cent or more,” said Wishart.

The report, which will be forwarded to Tourism B. C., includes several suggestions to improve the situation in the short term – better communication to tourists and targeted marketing campaigns to increase travel from other market segments.

“One of the things that came through loud and clear is we have to be part of the solution,” said Wishart. “It’s really not good if you drive from Vanderhoof to Prince Rupert and get told you can’t make the ferry and have to drive back.”

Secondly, many visitors come from the northeaster part of the province or northern Alberta to fish.

“We need to target that market more effectively. It puts heads in beds and fills gas tanks and so on,” he said.

He said money has to go into marketing programs that will bring people immediately, but that local businesses who are hurting financially, can’t afford to pay for those campaigns.

On the upside, Wishart said the communications between agencies along Highway 16 did give him hope industry can build on its successes and rebuild traffic levels in the future.

“It left us with the feeling we aren’t alone, we will survive and succeed,” he said.