Learning to Adapt to the cruise industry

It was a busy weekend for those involved in Prince Rupert’s cruise ship industry as Philip Westoby, Cruise Developer Officer at the Prince Rupert Port Authority provided his take on the state of Prince Rupert’s still developing cruise industry.

From facts and figures to impressions from visitors and cruise lines the afternoon brainstorming session covered many segments of the industry and its local potential.

The Monday Daily News featured an article with details of the afternoon talk from Mr. Westoby, focusing it would seem on the business development side of the day’s discussion.

Missing from Monday’s story was a tidbit of information that the Northern View revealed on Sunday night from their attendance at the same conference.

That of the potential loss of one of the cruise lines in the 2009 season. A short entry posted to that newspapers website, outlined some concern over the potential loss of one of the cruise lines in the 2009 season. They have the promise of more details to come when that paper publishes mid week.

Two reporters at one meeting providing a different direction on the cruise ship debate. Leaving still a lot of questions for the community about the industry that still is in its infancy.

Cruise ship expert floats new ideas for excellence
Stakeholdes talk about ways to make experience better
By Kris Schumacher
The Daily News
Monday, April 21, 2008
Pages three and five

According to a cruise-specific economic study, Prince Rupert enjoys by far the highest revenue-per-cruise-ship-passenger, but the city exhibits the lowest capture rate for guests on tour in a Canadian port of call.

The Business Research and Economic Advisors (BREA) study surveyed onboard ships listed in a wide selection of Canadian ports across Canada in 2007 during the months of June, July and August, and gives some insight into how Prince Rupert is functioning as a relatively new cruise line port of call.

Cruise Developer Officer for the Prince Rupert Port Authority Philip Westoby spoke to a group at Chances on Sunday, giving the public an overview of his portfolio and a briefing about how our community is adapting to cruise ship tourism and the challenges we still face. On a positive note, more than 95 per cent of cruise ship passengers actually leave the ship and go out and explore Prince Rupert while berthed here, a higher percentage that other British Columbia cities such as Victoria. Also noteworthy is that the average cruise ship passenger in Prince Rupert spends $30.49 while here on food, transportation and entertainment. That spending jumps to $55.15 when taking into account participation in onshore excursions.

However, despite the high numbers of passengers leaving the ship and the amount of money they are spending, according to surveys and questionnaires posed to passengers that have visited our community, tourists want a more localized experience when they’re in Prince Rupert. Westoby explained there are three key components that go into the process by which a cruise line chooses the ports it includes each season. The first item considered is shore excursions and onshore revenue, meaning whether calling to a specific port is financially beneficial to the cruise line. The second component is marine operations, and whether they are cost-effective, convenient and operate efficiently. The third is overall guest experience and destination appeal, meaning whether a particular port adds positively to the overall cruise experience.

There’s no question that Prince Rupert excels in the first two components with the help of companies like Seashore Charters and Adventure Tours, but there is much more that can be done in and around the downtown core to give all tourists a more enriching and enjoyable overall experience for those people who do not take part in any of the shore excursions.

In his presentation, Westoby explained how each cruise line employs a marketing agency that highlights businesses and attractions at ports of call, such as telling passengers about the tours and major attractions available. The agencies also provide specifics like where passengers can pick up some great smoked salmon or authentic First Nations jewelry. Westoby also said the 1,100 crew members of each ship are an integral part of the tourist revenue, because they are not only spending some of their own income in Prince Rupert on a weekly basis, but they are also recommending local businesses and attractions to the passengers who they meet and talk to each week.

“Almost 50 per cent of what cruise passengers decide to don in communities is based upon word or mouth, and a lot of that is from crew members recommending it to passengers,” said Westoby.

“And if anyone has non-retail websites that detail community events or things of that nature, they can ask me about ways to add them as links to the cruise line sites and have them more easily accessible to possible visitors and tourists,” Westoby said.

“For example, Royal Caribbean would love to be able to tell passengers that there will be some 2,000 First Nations Elders gather here during one of their stops and make plans for them accordingly.”

The BREA capture rates of which Prince Rupert is lacking, refers to the amount of information that passengers are getting before arriving in Prince Rupert or while in the city, something that Westoby says Prince Rupert needs to continue working on improving and needs to be considered as a port community in the initial stages of developing a strong cruise ship tourism model.

Westoby said anyone wanting advice or information on what they can do to better-promote their business, attraction or organization to cruise ship passengers can get in contact with him by emailing pwestoby@ rupertport.com because he is glad to share his experience from working within the industry.

“We’ve got some very serious gaps to fill,” said Mayor Herb Pond. “We need to think of things that will cause more people to spend a little longer downtown and venture even further down Second and Third Avenue.”

See tomorrow’s Daily News for a breakdown of what participants in Sunday’s brainstorming session thought could be done to improve Prince Rupert for disembarking cruise ship passengers and other tourists.