This week the Prince Rupert Port Authority took a look back at the 2011 cruise season and spoke about what the future holds for cruise in Prince Rupert.
LOL@ a future with cruise ships in Rupert… another white elephant …
Well, we criticize the city when they don’t do enough to promote the cruise ships and then we criticize people for making an attempt to promote the cruise ships.
Rupert as a tourist spot is an interesting proposition. Living here, we see all our warts. But the culture and the environment are huge pluses.
If we can trust any group to get Rupert moving, it is the PRPA.
I think it is great that Cowbay gets promoted really well to the passangers but what about other businesses on town? The Dollar Store, The Gym, Rainforest Books, The Bargin Shop??? I was on 3rd W a few times when there was a ship in and not alot of people were up this way and those who were complained because the stores close so early. Well if the business got more traffic and passangers buying then it would be easier for them to stay open. But when passangers don’t even know about the stores up there and are only told about a certain area of town why would those businesses stay open? I know I wouldn’t.
Without question Rupert can be a beautiful spot to explore for a few hours off a ship, however I have spoken to several business people and they all say the same thing: Typical cruise ship passengers are not big spenders esp the american economy the way it is. For most businesses it was not worth the cost staff and other expense wise of being open late for the ships.
In a place like Victoria that has up to 2-3 ships some days, it can be worth it as the numbers of people are much larger and there are other tourists as well. Some of the small cruise line passengers tended to spend more when in rupert, they did things like expensive tours. There are some from the large lines that do as well, but the passengers that cannot afford the expensive tours are not the people that are going to go down town and spend enough to make it worthwhile being open. They tend to go to Safeway to get deals on pop and other snacks as they are more expensive on the ship. The port corportation is doing a lot for Rupert with the expansion etc, but the large cruise ships are a farce business wise.
[quote=“jamesbrown”]Without question Rupert can be a beautiful spot to explore for a few hours off a ship, however I have spoken to several business people and they all say the same thing: Typical cruise ship passengers are not big spenders esp the american economy the way it is. For most businesses it was not worth the cost staff and other expense wise of being open late for the ships.
… some of the small cruise line passengers tended to spend more when in rupert, they did things like expensive tours. There are some from the large lines that do as well, but the passengers that cannot afford the expensive tours are not the people that are going to go down town and spend enough to make it worthwhile being open… the large cruise ships are a farce business wise.[/quote]
Wow, how many times are we going to have to hear this broken record. I am so tired of hearing the small cruise ships are the saviour of cruise, can’t anyone wrap their heads around the simple math: say a pocket cruise guest spends an average of $100 ashore but a large ship guest spends an average of $10: this year there were 120 pocket cruise guests AND 55,000 LARGE CRUISE SHIP GUESTS !!!
The math!! 120 times 100 is no where near the very conservative $550,000 example… ask some of the businesses that were open, that did go out and drive customers to their businesses… The business owners I talked to this year, the ones who engaged the guests and stayed open, did so because they realized 2500 consumers were arriving each week to buy souvenirs; they asked the guests what they were looking for, adjusted accordingly and profited by it.
Last year I asked some members of the Terrace business community if I dropped 50 busloads of tourists once a week (yep, that’s 2500 people folks) 3 blocks from their Safeway near the farmer’s market, would they just close their doors and go home; they said “are you nuts? Of course we would be open, welcoming and try and stock to sell to the customer!”
Tours can be expensive, yes, but travelling here by plane, RV, rail or ferry and combining that with accomodation can be far more costly; given that, there were hundreds on tour this year every week, and hundreds more taking in all the activities around the waterfront and into the community. A large number of these guests use cruises to choose future holiday destinations; On several occaisions this summer cruise guests approached me for information on how to travel here by RV, where to stay if taking the Alaska ferry, and how to book weeklong fishing charters. Don’t tell me that this industry is a white elephant.
It’s a shame more businesses didn’t take advantage of the opportunity.
As an aside, when I go travelling and am looking for places to shop for souvenirs, local gyms and dollar stores aren’t the first places that come to mind… just a thought…