Port of Halifax Expects No Cruise Ship Visits This Year
HALIFAX—The Port of Halifax doesn’t expect any cruise ships to dock in Halifax this season. And it may be years before cruise ship traffic returns to pre-Covid-19 levels in the city.
Captain Allan Gray, the port’s president and CEO, says his team is planning for a summer season with zero cruise traffic.
“Our expectation and our budgeting is working on the fact that we won’t see a return of cruise [ships] in 2020,” Gray said this morning at the Port of Halifax’s annual general meeting.
Officially, Halifax’s cruise season has been “deferred” until July 1, following public health orders from the federal government.
Only about 50 percent of the scheduled cruise stops in the city has officially been cancelled. However, cruise ship bans from other countries and the industry’s hesitation to put ships back in service mean most cruises are unlikely to happen this year.
For example, even though cruise ships are technically allowed in the U.S. after July 24, Norwegian Cruise Lines said today its fleet will stay docked until at least the beginning of August.
As with most Covid-19-related stoppages, those timelines could easily be extended.
“At this stage, I would have to say the outlook for cruise is quite bleak,” Gray said.
Millions Lost As Cruise Passengers Dry Up
It’s a disappointing situation for Halifax, which Gray said has seen “tremendous growth” in cruise ship traffic in the past few years.
Last year was a record-breaking cruise season in Halifax, as 179 ships brought 323,709 passengers to the city.
Before Covid-19, 2020 was on track to be even better.
In March, just before the federal government banned cruise ships from entering Canada, 208 ships were scheduled to dock in Halifax. Port spokesperson Lane Farguson said those ships would have brought more than 350,000 tourists to the city.
Missing out on those 350,000 people will have a big economic impact on Halifax.
An economic impact report from the Port of Halifax revealed that direct spending linked to the cruise industry topped $74.3-million in Halifax in 2018. The industry also created 554 jobs that paid out almost $22-million in wages.
The report also shows that direct spending from cruise ship passengers has spin-offs on the Nova Scotia economy. In 2018, the total economic output from the industry neared $172-million, created jobs 950 full- and part-time jobs, $45.5-million of wages, and $14-million in taxes.
Return To Normal Years Away
Gray admitted that, while there are a few signs of good news, it might be a while before the city and the province see that economic impact fully return.
He said there is a chance Halifax might see a few cruise ships trickle in at the very end of the season, and pointed to the fact that some cruise bookings are up for 2021.
However, even with some encouraging signs, it could be years before cruise ship numbers return to their pre-Covid-19 levels in Halifax.
“What we haven’t seen yet is how will cruises return. Will they come back in full force or will they do it in stages?” he said.
Cruise lines have all taken severe financial hits, and Gray said they might make more “gradual” returns to full operations. That would mean calling on their most prominent ports in the beginning, before eventually branching out to smaller ones like Halifax.
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“I would think it’s two to three years before we would see numbers returning to where they were,” he said.
Despite that, he said Halifax is in a good position to eventually attract cruise lines back because “the underlying fundamentals that make Atlantic Canada a popular tourism destination have not changed.”
He said tourism organizations and the Port of Halifax are already working out ways to restore consumer confidence and plan for “further expansion when the demand for cruises returns.”
“We will be ready for a strong return,” he said.