By
Rebecca Gibson |
Port Charlottetown welcomed more than 115,000 passengers and crew during its 2015 cruise season, generating just over CAD$9.1 million for on Prince Edward Island (PEI) in Canada.
Opening on 8 May with a visit from Haimark Luxury Cruises’ Saint Laurent, Charlottetown’s six-month cruise season included overnights and day calls from ships belonging to various cruise lines. These included Royal Caribbean International, Princess Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, and a number of other lines.
Holland America Line was the most frequent visitor, making around 40 calls throughout the season, while Pearl Seas Cruises’ Pearl Mist returned for her second season to make ten calls, including six overnights. Crystal Cruises, which last visited Charlottetown in 2009, also returned with a call from Crystal Symphony.
This September Charlottetown completed a CAD$3 million redevelopment project to improve its cruise infrastructure. In addition to revitalising the Cruise Welcome Terminal, the port also created a pedestrian plaza decorated with various sculptures and developed dedicated bus lanes and a taxi area.
Also this year, the port tracked the number of goods that were purchased from the island to use onboard cruise vessels.
“This is something we haven’t tracked in the past and feel that it is important to accurately reflect the true economic impact of cruise to PEI,” said Stan MacPherson, chair of the port’s board of directors. “We have always placed a strong emphasis on the tourism side of this business, but now we are actively encouraging cruise lines to purchase local island products for consumption onboard their ships.”
More than 16,000lbs of local mussels and 8,300lbs of potatoes were purchased to be served onboard visiting cruise ships. In addition, the port tracked sales of lobster, local craft ales, other produce and a variety of services.
“A great deal of the focus is obviously put on tourism,” said Les Parsons, CEO of Port Charlottetown. “We are working to promote more island product to our visiting cruise lines, which will strengthen the island brand and continue to grow and spread the economic spinoffs throughout PEI.”