New BC Industry Group Demands Ottawa Confirm Cruise Restart - Or Risk Permanent Loss of Cruise Business

Cruise ship by Canada Place in Vancouver, BC

Thirteen Canadian stakeholders in the West Coast cruise industry have formed a new coalition to get the federal government to take, “immediate action to signal the safe restart of the country’s multi-billion-dollar cruise ship industry.”

The group represents Canadian tourism, business, labour and cruise industry leaders, who together published a letter to Transport Canada. The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority issued the letter to the media.

In it, the group demands Ottawa, “send a clear signal that Canada is open for safe cruise service and tourism by announcing a scalable restart of the cruise industry and rescinding the order on the suspension of cruise in Canada” by the end of this year.

The federal government banned cruises in all Canadian waters until FEB 2022, but the season effectively runs spring through fall each year.

Organizations and businesses who rely on the cruise industry in B.C. had been hoping that Ottawa’s Monday announcement would include information about reopening Canada’s marine borders, but only relaxed arrival rules for fully-vaccinated Canadians were revealed.

That was the last straw for B.C’s cruise industry community, who told CTV Vancouver Island their reaction was, "Disappointment, and not just from us as an organization, but also now 13 organizations, associations that have come together to say, 'We need a plan,'" said Ian Robertson, the CEO of the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority.

Without a plan to permit cruise ships in B.C. again, the 13 organizations fear the $4.3 billion sector, and its 17,000 jobs, are in dire risk of permanent collapse - something they’ve been trying individually to make Ottawa address.

But, "They are tone deaf to our request," Robertson told CTV News Vancouver Island.

“We need to have the full reopening plan for the borders released as soon as possible,” Robertson said, according to Cruise Industry News. “We know we have missed the 2021 summer cruise season because of the pandemic, but BC can rebound for 2022 if Transport Canada indicates that they will fully rescind the suspension of cruise ships later this fall.”

The group notes that cruise lines and other industry operators need to have “confidence in Canada’s cruise services,” in order to plan itineraries and make complex decisions about restarting operations in Canada - decisions that need to be made “immediately,” the organizations said.

Their call for action comes as new legislation has been tabled in the U.S. that could result in Alaskan cruises permanently bypassing Canadian ports, including Victoria, Vancouver, Nanaimo and Prince Rupert.

Utah Senator Mike Lee has tabled three bills to repeal what he calls the “outdated” Passenger Vessel Service Act of 1886, which prohibits foreign-flagged ships from sailing directly between U.S. ports. Instead, they must have at least one foreign port of call, and effectively for Alaska cruises, that means B.C.

The Alaska Tourism Restoration Act was passed unanimously by both U.S. Congress and the Senate in May, allowing cruise lines to skip over the Canadian port requirement on a “temporary” basis.

This week’s letter to Transport Canada was signed by