North West and Canada Cruise Association

Economics

During 2007 approximately 1,000 cruise ship calls were made at Canadian cruise ports generating nearly 2 million passenger arrivals throughout the six-month cruise season. Pacific ports of Campbell River, Nanaimo, Prince Rupert, Victoria and Vancouver accounted for 73% of the Canadian cruise passenger traffic.

In 2007 cruise passenger arrivals in Canada have increased by 24%, or slightly more than 378,000 passengers. Most of this growth, almost 290,000 cruise passenger arrivals (an increase of 26%), occurred in British Columbia. Within BC, 93% of the growth in passenger arrivals was generated by the growth in port-of-call traffic. This was supplemented by a 2% increase in embarkations and disembarkations in Vancouver.

The economic benefits that accrue to the Canadian economy arise from five principal sources:

• spending by cruise passengers and crew for goods and services associated with their cruise, including travel to the port of embarkation and pre / post-cruise vacation spending;
• expenditures by the cruise lines for goods and services necessary for cruise operations, including food and beverages, fuel, vessel maintenance and repair, ship's supplies and so forth
• shore-side staffing by the cruise lines for their cruise and land transportation and excursion activities
• spending by the cruise lines for port services at Canadian ports-of-embarkation and ports-of-call
• capital expenditures for equipment and facilities purchased from Canadian businesses

The major economic impacts of the international cruise industry during 2007 were as follows:

• Cruise calls in Canada generated $1.1 billion in direct spending by the cruise lines and their passengers and crew generating 9,791 annualized full- and part-time jobs paying $344 million in wages and salaries. (Note: all dollar denominated figures are in Canadian dollars).
• Including the indirect economic impacts, the spending of the cruise lines and their crew and passengers was responsible for the generation of $2.3 billion in total output in the Canadian economy. This, in turn, generated 16,645 full- and part-time jobs in Canada paying a total of $642 million in wages and salaries.