Tourism Disaster in Wake of Sinking

Saturday, May 20, 2006 04:01 AM

The City of Prince Rupert has taken a major hit in tourist traffic as a result of the sinking of the Queen of the North.

The replacement vessel holds far fewer passengers and cars and with the crew now occupying space on the upper deck, that problem has been further exacerbated. The capacity of the present ferry is 11,000 for the entire season while the Queen of the north had a capacity of 45,000. Scott Farwell , the operations Manager of the Crest Hotel in Prince Rupert, one of that City's leading tourist facilities, says "The result of this massive reduction in traffic and specially rubber tire traffic is a 40% drop in tourist traffic."

He says Prince Rupert is not the only place being hit "All along the line from Vancouver to Whistler, to Prince Rupert and clear over to Jasper, tourist traffic is down. Vancouver and Victoria are now beginning to realize just how important that circle tour is to them as well."

Retailers in Prince Rupert say business is down and in the hospitality industry that figure reaches upwards of 40% according to some of those surveyed. One service station located along Highway 16 in the region says its gas sales have dropped $800 dollars a day. The gas station operator says "The amount may not be significant when you’re in Vancouver but in a little settlement like this that is major."

Farwell says the saving grace for his hotel has been the construction of the Port of Prince Rupert which has offset to some degree the effects of the reduced traffic.

"Everyone is hurting" he said "from whale watchers, specialty shops right down to the grocery stores, you can’t take 35,000 people out of the market and expect it not to."

Previous Story - Next Story

Email |

Print |

Facebook |

Twitter |

Digg |

Del.icio.us

Posted on Saturday, May 20, 2006 04:01 AM in Travel by 250 News

Return to Home

Comments

Posted by: owl on May 20 2006 4:09 AM

I suppose that is the postive thing which comes out of this then, the fact that this cahnge is so dramatic and so attributable to the one event, that no one can say any longer that they do not know whether tourism dollars are a major factor in their economy. Typiclly it is so intangible and sort to grows with time. I wonder how far down highway 16 this effect is felt and to what degree.

Posted by: Marty on May 20 2006 7:40 AM

I hate to sound rude.
But I go to Rupert regularly for work.
It is a nice little town, and for the most part I enjoy it.
But usually in a smaller town, I can find nice, reasonably priced accomadations.
I find it is not easy to do so in Rupert, and one of the people named as upset business is down, is a place i have called maybe 4 or 5 times over the years hoping prices have dropped, and maybe i will book a room.
But it is always too pricey for me and I move on.
Same type of hotel rom is about half the price in Terrace, Kitimat, or Smithers, the closest places around, so i stay there instead.
Just maybe, and yes I admit I know nothing about running a hotel, is dropping the prices a bit so everyone wants to stay there.
I bet if priced in my range i would stay there 1 or 2 days every month.

My 1.8 cents

Posted by: Chester on May 20 2006 8:41 AM

I also have stayed at the Crest Hotel on each visit to Pr. Rupert. It has the reputation of being one of the nicest in the community. That is the reason I prefer to stay there. The restaurant is also higher end dining.

Supply and demand also have a bearing on the prices a hotel is able to charge. The bottom line is usually determined by the willingness of the traveller and the reputation of the Hotel. The Crest is not for everyone and they are not cheap, but they provide pretty good value. Many of the locals take their visitors and guests to the Crest for finer dining. Chester

Posted by: Chadermando on May 20 2006 1:01 PM

If you want to fly to Prince Rupert and rent a car your out of luck. At $500 dollars a day they have priced themselves out of a significant market. Why is it less than 1/5th that cost anywhere else in BC?

One would think this would be an issue considering the vastness of their tourism area, lack of public transit, and restrictions on the amount of rubber traffic through their community after the sinking of the ferries. This is an issue that gets that city bad word of mouth that goes from Vancouver all the way to Europe and beyond and has never been addressed.