Ready for cruise season

With 12 stops in the Thunder Bay harbour last year, the MV Clelia brought $592,000 into the community.

With 950 passengers plus crew members venturing into the community for day stops, city tourism manager Paul Pepe said the economic impact was tremendous and felt quite extensively throughout the community from restaurants and transportation services to local art galleries and other attractions.

"We’re gearing up for another busy year with the cruise shipping season," Pepe said, noting the MV Clelia will be back for another 10 visits this year starting in June and another vessel has plans to make Thunder Bay a regular stop in 2011.

The city is using the Pool 6 property as a docking area for the cruise ships and Pepe said it worked flawlessly last year and they have plans for more upgrades to the area for this season.

"Last year we focused on the health and safety and security, just cleaning up the area," he said. "With the area still going under environmental assessment, we can’t really do anything permanent in terms of infrastructure improvement right now."

This year, Pepe said they will be dredging the slip to have it at seaway depth. They haven’t had any problems with the slip, but with more vessels scheduled to visit the city, Pepe said they want to work ahead.

"To make sure that for future vessels to come in, we’re able to be more nimble in accepting them … and ensure what we have meets the various vessel owners’ needs," he said.

Pepe said they received a lot of feedback from the Clelia’s passengers last year about what they could to improve the Pool 6 area to be more welcoming for the visitors. Shelters for passengers, some seating areas and welcome banners and flags were suggested.

"The passengers have been quite pleased with the facilities and they understand it’s a work in progress," he said. "They see the machinery. They see the work being done on the property. From their point of view, it’s worked very well."

The Pool 6 property also has wildlife like deer and birds that the passenger find fascinating as well as learning about the site’s industrial history.

"The clientele the MV Clelia attracts are the kind of clients that want to learn about the authentic stories of the city," Pepe said. "They want to learn about the authentic stories of the city. They want to see the city’s past and where it’s going in the future. We’re able to use the property to our advantage in interpreting it as part of their experience on shore."

The cruise ship industry in Thunder Bay is in its infancy, said Pepe, adding he believes it will take 10 to 20 years to reach the level they expect it to.

"It’s one of the last untapped cruising destinations on the planet and one of the only fresh water cruising destinations left in the world," Pepe said.

Although $592,000 is only a small portion of the city’s tourism industry at this point, Pepe said the cruise ship industry raises the city’s profile as a destination of choice.

"Even though our numbers are small, it’s a long-term investment we’re going to make. We do see the industry growing globally and we see that growth trickling down to us," he said