Northern Ferry traffic down 70% from last year!

The Vancouver Province had a sobering look at the economic fallout of the Sinking of the Queen of the North, with an article in Sunday’s paper that looked at the impact province wide of the tragedy.

On page A27 of the paper is a comprehensive investigation into the economic turmoil that the sinking has caused, including a shocking statistic that travel is down over 69% since this time last year on the Port Hardy-Prince Rupert run.

The findings probably won’t come as a surprise to local tourism operators, many of whom suspected the worst was yet to come when the ship went down in March.

One of the hardest hit attractions locally is the Port Edward Historical Cannery where staff hours have been slashed as the tour cancellations mount.

It’s worth a read to get a full grasp on what the tourism industry is facing not only here, but inland as well, as the loss of a major mode of transportation ripples across the province.

Maybe now, the folks in the rest of the province will realize just how important those boats really are to the economy not only of the North but in their hometowns as well!

Loss of ferry felt in many centres
INTERIOR TOURISM: RV, tour-bus circuit sees huge drop as passenger volume sinks

By Susan Lazaruk
The Province
Sunday, July 9, 2006
Page A27

The ripple effect of the March 22 sinking of the Queen of the North is still being felt in Northern B.C. -- and tourism officials and operators fear this tourist season is probably sunk, too.

The dramatic sinking of the 115-car ferry after it hit an island sailing to Port Hardy from Prince Rupert, killing two and forcing 99 crew and passengers to abandon ship, has cut ferry service in half to the northern region.

The Queen of Prince Rupert is now being used for two routes from Prince Rupert to Port Hardy and to the Queen Charlotte Islands, and statistics from Tourism B.C. show that passenger volume plunged an average of 60 per cent in April and May over the same months in 2005.

B.C. Ferries said it may have found a replacement and an announcement is expected this month. But the new ship wouldn't be available until next spring, said spokeswoman Deborah Marshall.
"We recognize that it is having an impact on communities," she said.

Virtually every community on the RV and tour-bus circuit -- which links in various combinations the Rockies, the Okanagan, northeastern B.C. and the Prince Rupert-Port Hardy ferry to or from the Island, and which is popular with Americans, Albertans, Germans and other Europeans -- is going to be affected.

"[Travel agents and visitors] build some very exciting packages, and when you take one leg out of them, absolutely there is going to be an effect. There's no question," said Deborah Kulchiski of Tourism Prince George, who said visits to her city's visitor-information centres dropped 25 per cent in May and 10 per cent in June over 2005.

Darlene Wolf, a tour guide at the Port Edward Historical Cannery in Prince Rupert, has had her 40-plus-hour week slashed to 25 hours.

"[Tour buses] were coming on the ferry and we've had a lot of cancellations," she said. "Some are still cancelling."

"It's pretty stressful," she sighed, adding that she's looking for a second job. "The money isn't there. I can cover the basics, but I don't have any extras."

Recreational tourism in the north was expected to "remain subdued" this year, according to the Credit Union Central of B.C.'s economic outlook released last week, because of the stronger loonie and higher gas prices, as well as the loss of the ferry.

"I think it's a combination, but the ferry has definitely had a huge impact on the RV park," said Yvonne Danroth, owner of the Wild Duck Motel and RV Park in Terrace, where bookings are down 22 per cent this year and 24 per cent in June over last June.

"An article in the RV magazine said RVers aren't that affected by higher gas prices because they get used to them, but you can't take that huge ferry out of the system without it having some effect," said Danroth.

At the Terrace Tourism Society, Jennifer Lewis said,"I just got a call from a tour-bus operator saying they got a cancellation because the Italians can't get on the ferries."

John Taylor of Terrace's chamber of commerce said, "It's been devastating. There's no hope of recovery for this year. The rubber-tire traffic [RVs and buses] is way down."

Taylor said it was suggested to a group of visitors planning a trip from Belgium that they take a ferry to Bella Coola, which would mean driving east to Prince George and then west to Prince Rupert and back the same route.

"They decided not to come this year," he said.

"It doesn't just affect [northern towns]. It's also car rentals, RV rentals, businesses in Calgary, restaurants, hotels all along the way," he said. "It's mind-boggling if you put a dollar amount on it."

With the one-time funding of $450,000 from the tourist ministry to offset the losses from missing the Queen of the North, B.C.'s northern tourism region hired "summer counsellors" to travel to visitor information centres on Hwy. 16 from Prince George to Prince Rupert to talk up the other towns and create marketing campaigns.

Said Lewis, "One of the positives is that everyone is going to realize that this not just Prince Rupert's ferry.

It's B.C.'s ferry, and it affects tourism in Prince George, the Okanagan, Vancouver -- and it has an impact on restaurants, accommodations, tour operators, marketing firms."

And, she said, she hoped the crisis would prepare BC Ferries in future for a similar catastrophe.
"Don't you think if it were Vancouver-Tsawwassen, they would have a backup plan?" she said.
slazaruk@png.canwest.com

NUMBERS STORY

Ferry traffic on the Port Hardy, Prince Rupert routes has dropped since the March 22 sinking of the Queen of the North, as these tourism indicators on B.C. Ferries' passenger volume from Tourism B.C. indicate:

April 2005: 2,558 passengers (up 26.1 per cent from April 2004)

April 2006: 788 passengers (down 69.2 per cent from April 2005)

May 2005: 5,201 passengers (up 9.1 per cent over May 2004)

May 2006: 2,712 passengers (down 47.9 per cent from May 2005)

Ran with fact box "Numbers Story", which has been appended to the story.
© The Vancouver Province 2006