Seven large cruise ships are scheduled to dock in Nanaimo this year, pushing the industry’s economic value up to $CAD1 million locally.
The Nanaimo Port Authority has worked toward improving the cruise ship industry for more than a decade and a major step toward that goal happened with the launch of a new, $CAD24-million cruise ship terminal in 2011.
Last year, five large cruise ships and two of the smaller “pocket” cruisers tied up at the new dock and injected approximately $CAD700,000 into the Nanaimo economy.
The NPA wants to build on that with a vision to attract 35 to 40 ships a visit every year with the majority coming during the summer months.
“That’s the ultimate objective. Shoulder season visits are great and certainly appreciated, but out plan is to work with the cruise lines to get some summer visitations,” said Doug Peterson, NPA manager of marketing and sales.
The problem the NPA has been working to address, along with the Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation, is to encourage more vessels to come to Nanaimo.
The NEDC announced in August the creation of a three-year strategic plan that aims to identify tourist attractions to boost Nanaimo’s profile.
Through a series of open houses and surveys NEDC collected more than 100 ideas about attractions that would help bring revenue into the city.
NEDC’s tourism leadership committee “putting together the final pieces” of the new tourism strategy and “we look forward to sharing it with the community in the near future,” said Sasha Angus, CEO of NEDC.
“The process has gone really well. The two major things we looked at were how do we market Nanaimo and how do we develop new experiences and new opportunities for folks to come and enjoy our community.”
Cruise Ship Activity Slated For 2013 Season
Seven large ships, including the massive 19-deck ‘CELEBRITY SOLSTICE’, so tall she is unable to pass beneath the Lion’s Gate Bridge, plus two pocket vessels.
NORWEGIAN PEARL May 11 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
NORWEGIAN SUN May 2 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.
NORWEGIAN JEWEL May 14 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.
NORWEGIAN JEWEL May 16 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
CELEBRITY MILLENNIUM September 15 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.
NORWEGIAN SUN September 17 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
CELEBRITY CENTURY September 27 7 a.m. – 5 p.m.
