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The cruise industry says it generates hundreds of millions of dollars for Atlantic Canada. Independent researchers who studied the same ports, during the same seasons, found far less. Here’s why it matters
They are the annual harbingers of spring in the bays, harbours and waterways of Atlantic Canada; shining white cities on the water, crammed to the gills with thousands of tourists looking to lighten their wallets at various ports of call.
But are cruise ships really all that? Does their economic impact live up to the hype? It depends on who you ask.
The cruise lines, and those who promote their economic benefits to Atlantic Canada, including various port authorities and groups like Cruise Atlantic Canada and Cruise NL are enthusiastic in their praise of the industry. They all read from the same book in this regard, quoting recent data points from the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA), the largest cruise industry trade association in the world.
But some researchers say the economic benefits of the cruise industry are seriously overstated. Interestingly, we were able to identify research that was carried out—at the same time, in the same place—by independent researchers as well as an industry-funded research group.
In 2016 and ‘17, researchers Ross Klein (from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador), and Acadia University’s Burc Kayahan and Brian VanBlarcom conducted research in Atlantic Canada, working on a grant from MUN. They hired students to interview cruise ship passengers and crew at four Atlantic Canadian ports—Halifax, Saint John, Charlottetown and St. John’s—from the start of the season in the spring until its conclusion in the fall. They surveyed 70 per cent of ships landing at these four ports and interviewed 7,682 passengers and crew. The vast majority of surveys were gathered in Halifax.
In 2016, researchers with Business Researchers and Economic Analysis (BREA), working for CLIA, carried out a study across Atlantic Canada, also from May to October. Questionnaires were left in the cabins of passengers and crew after 70 different ports of call, to complete and return to stewards. In all, they collected 6,425 surveys.
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