Canadian port welcomed 20,674 passengers, 12,020 crew members and 30 cruise calls
By
Rebecca Gibson |
Escale Gaspésie, which operates the port of Gaspé in Canada, welcomed a total of 20,674 passengers, 12,020 crew members and 30 cruise calls in the 2016 season.
This season, which closed on 30 October, the port welcomed maiden calls from several ships. These included Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ Europa 2, Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ Mariner of the Seas, Crystal Cruises’ Crystal Serenity, Oceania Cruises’ Regatta, Cunard Line’s Queen Mary 2.
“The numbers speak for themselves: increase in the number of calls from 2015 to 2016 is 15% while increase in volume of passengers is 18%,” said Stéphane Sainte-Croix, executive director of Escale Gaspésie. “There was also an increase in the amount of time the ships were in port for an average of 9.2 hours compared to 8.5 in 2015.”
Escale Gaspésie estimates that cruise tourism has directly contributed CAD$2 million to the local economy.