Efforts to Build the Great Lakes Cruise Shiipping Industry Continue

The cruise shipping industry is a global tourism powerhouse valued in the billions of dollars and attracting tens of millions of avid cruise consumers annually. Although the industry remains dominated by the big liners focused on the Caribbean or the Mediterranean, a niche segment is growing in the small ship market. While the large vessels and standard island itineraries are great, a growing segment of the cruise consumer is seeking something more intimate, more educational and more experiential.

This past march marked the fifth consecutive year Tourism Thunder Bay has been present at SeaTrade's Cruise Shipping Miami as part of the Great Lakes Cruising Coalition. This nineteen member bi national organization is focused on the development of the Great Lakes as a vibrant cruise shipping destination, catering to the speciality cruise markets.

Miami is undeniably the home port of the world's industry with most cruise operators, ship owners and industry influencers having their head or branch operations. The annual event, held this past week, attracts hundreds of vessel suppliers and destinations and attracts thousands of cruise line executives, deployment directors, tour operators and retail travel representatives. This gathering of the globe's key cruise influencers makes it the one single marketing.

The growth of discovery and expedition cruising globally is largely focused on areas such as Central and South America, the far east, Australia, Galapagos, Antarctica, New Zealand and the rivers of Europe. There is no reason that the Great Lakes, with its mix of exceptional natural environment and rich cultural and industrial heritage, can be a long term destination right up there with some of the planets other exotic regions.

The history of passenger ship travel on the great lakes goes back to the eighteenth century and ended in the mid sixties with the improvements to the highway and air infrastructure to move people and goods more quickly and efficiently. It was not until the mid 1990's that passenger travel returned to the lakes with the likes of of the C. Columbus and later, Le Levant, ACCL (now Blount Small Ship Cruises) and Travel Dynamics. The strength of the Great Lakes includes fresh water, a cultural identity

Since 1997, the C Columbus has visited Thunder Bay twenty six times, Travel Dynamics twenty two times and a handful of visits from Ponnant Cruises' Le Levant. While this year appears quiet for the commercial ships visiting our terminal, we continue to work with industry and communities to build itineraries that can appeal to their clientele. There are two essential elements to developing cruise shipping destinations. The first is having shore experiences that consumers are seeking and the second is the establishment of an economically and environmentally climate for the operators. Cruise ships are expensive expensive to operate and lines are very mindful of the plethora of costs associated with seaway fees, the mandated use of low sulphur bunker fuels, shore excursion rates, food supplies, wharfage charges, customs and immigration fees, etc, etc.

This past year, we focused on meeting with the small ship owners, charterers and travel trade associated with the expedition industry. We also had a chance to meet representatives from most of the world's shipyards to find out what small ships are on the build sheets so we can plan our efforts into the future to get on the radar screen of their itinerary and deployment planners. It was also a chance to meet with the cruise media and sell them on the Great Lakes to build consumer and industry buzz and generate more leads and hopefully, more demand from ship owners to add capacity.

Cruise shipping generates approximately 1% of our annual tourism receipts for the region and while that sounds paltry to be putting efforts into this, our dedicated resource budget to the cruising is about 1% of our overall annual budget. When leveraged with the nineteen other cities and ports, Federal and Provincial contributions and RTO funds, it provides a solid base to promote the entire region. Considering that expedition and discovery cruising is a high yield, high value attraction, it raises the profile of our region and provides unique media opportunities.

More and more tourism industry officials believe that the great lakes has the potential to be the planet's next big discovery and expedition cruising territory. It will take an ongoing collective effort and resources from great lakes partners on both sides of the border and business friendly shipping policies to make that a reality

Tourism Thunder Bay Welcomes European Cruise Executives.

This past weekend Tourism Thunder Bay had the privilege to host five European cruise and group tour executives in the City as part of a Great Lakes industry familiarization tour coordinated by the Great Lakes Cruising Coalition.

The Coalition, of which Thunder Bay is a member, represents over twenty Canadian and U.S. ports, cities, vessel managers and tourism organizations. This bi-national group is successful in leveraging resources to attract the global cruise shipping industry to consider the great Lakes for future itinerary development.

Representatives from German, French and British operators were accompanied by Stephen Burnett, our great friend and GLCC Executive Director as part of a ten day tour. Chartering a Amphibious Caravan from Watson's Skyways, they were able to land on the water at Red Rock (another GLCC Member) before continuing on to Thunder Bay for an overnight stay and tour.

While here, we escorted them around in style to showcase the calibre of shore services and transportation we're capable of providing as a community. We utilized Prestige Limousine's limo bus and driver Rob for the two days, providing the perfect platform to showcase the best our community has to offer them.

After settling into their hotel, they were taken up to Hillcrest Park, the Pool 6 Cruise Terminal and the new Prince Arthur's Landing development. From there it was onto Gargoyles for an epic dinner reception with some of Tourism Thunder Bay's partners in cruise shipping attraction. Doug Morrill, Gargoyle's owner and chef out did himself with a custom menu featuring all locally sourced ingredients including bison, pickerel, fresh greens and more. This was backed by some exceptional service from Gargoyle's team.

Following a great rest and breakfast at the Valhalla, our guests toured Fort William Historical Park, Kakabeka Falls, and finishing off at Whitewater Golf Club with a course tour and lunch. From there it was off to Wasaya where a chartered Pilatus whisked them onto Duluth to continue their fact finding journey.

Later this year, we'll welcome the C Columbus for two visits. While we have no commercial cruise vessels yet confirmed for 2012, we continue to work regionally in attracting vessel operators for the year and subsequent cruising seasons.

A big thanks goes out to all of Tourism Thunder Bay's partners involved in the familiarization tour. This familiarization tour was also made possible through funding provided through the Regional Tourism Organization and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Culture. We continue to work with local and global industry partners in growing the cruise segment that enhances Thunder Bay's reputation as a port community.

Thunder Bay Participates in Seatrade Cruise Shipping Miami's International Gathering

The arrival of the MV Clelia II at Pool 6 last summer signaled the return of passenger shipping to the downtown north core waterfront and complimented the significant investment in our waterfront currently underway.

While vessels have been coming into the city since 1997, the future for great lakes cruise shipping holds tremendous opportunity for growth. With a total economic impact of $592 000 from the twelve Clelia visits last year, cruise shipping has the opportunity to offer big returns for the community and positively impact many small businesses in a relatively short port stay. It may have only represented less than 1% of our total tourism economy last year but the importance extend beyond the actual monetary value. Cruise shipping elevates our community's reputation as a culturally enriched unique, exotic and high calibre destination. Aligning with this reputation brings tremendous positive attention to our community and region. Bluntly stated, cruise shipping is sexy.

I recently returned from attending the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Miami (http://www.cruiseshippingmiami.com/) conference. This annual gathering, the 26th such event, is the home port of the global cruise shipping industry. It was an opportunity to spend four days in the company of two thousand delegates and thousands of industry exhibitors and travel trade specialists, sharing experiences and learning best practices from some of the world's best. While our industry is in its infancy, caters to smaller expedition type vessels and is small when compared to Miami, Port Canaveral, Alaska and BC, the lessons learned are still valuable and can be applied to our own experiences and vision.

I had the chance to take in the State of the Industry panel discussion, lead by the CEOs of six of the world's top cruise lines, as well as workshops and panel discussions on upscale markets, global source and deployment strategies, terminal design and management, expedition and discovery cruising, and more.

Overall, the industry has a lot of growth ahead of it. The industry expects to globally carry upwards of 14.1 million passengers this year, an increase of 6.4% over last year. While last year's capacity seems to have fared well, it came at heavily discounted rates. The expedition and discovery markets, our best bet, expects positive future growth projections. The global market, comprised of only 9000 berths spread among 53 ships, is very small but running at high occupancy levels, indicating potential growth opportunities for new builds in the future.

In addition to our delegate status, we were also there as members of the Great Lakes Cruising Coalition, a collective of 24 port cities and marine partners working together across the border to build a viable industry that diversifies, not only the tourism industry, but the Great Lakes marine industry in general. Being the only freshwater destination at the show helps us stand out, generating a constant stream of interest from other delegates, exhibitors and visitors to the show.

Lake Superior has tremendous potential to grow with respect to the expedition and discovery cruising markets. With the National Marine Conservation Area, Isle Royale, Apostle Islands and other areas of National and International importance, combined with unique communities and shore excursion options, we have to start promoting us as a place as exotic as anywhere else on earth.

for this year, we're looking at 10 return visits from the Clelia II while 2011 and 12 promise two visits by a larger vessel in each year and the possibilities of several other lines currently evaluating the market demand.

We have a long way to go to build cruise shipping for our region but the good news is that we're out of the gate, are starting to make ourselves known on the international stage and developing some great innovative bi national partnerships for the future.

Sharing Cruise Shipping Education with Northshore Communities Aims to Build New Market.

This past summer saw an important milestone for Tourism Thunder Bay with the Transport Canada certification and opening of our very own passenger marine terminal at the Pool 6 Tourism Administration centre. With the first stage completed and a flawless operating year under our belts, we are turning our attention to a long term strategy for infrastructure improvements to the site and attracting more long term commercial cruise vessels and encouraging large private yachts to utilize the terminal.

While cruise shipping admittedly makes up a small percentage of visitors to the city, its is a very important element in our long term product development strategy. Cruise shipping is, for lack of a better word, "sexy" and elevates the reputation of the city and region as a must see destination as a result. There is a exotic romance about cruise shipping and to be included as a destination alongside the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Galapagos and Antarctica can only help create a positive image of what we possess.

Its also important that we remember that numbers don't always mean as much as economic impact. While we welcomed some 900 passengers and 75 crew to the city, the economic impact of cruise shipping is approximately 4.5 times more than that of our average overnight visitor arriving by land. Our 12 visits by the MV Clelia II injected over $650 000 into the Thunder Bay economy and created the equivalent of 2 full time jobs in just 12 day stops.

We're proud of being perhaps the only tourism organization in Canada that controls its own passenger marine terminal and that gives us the complete freedom and flexibility to work seamlessly with the cruise operators to accommodate their requirements quickly and efficiently. Capitalizing on our strategic port location on the world's biggest and greatest freshwater lake, our fantastic airlift capacity of Thunder Bay International Airport, unique attractions, an abundance of hotel inventory and first rate marine servicing companies, we are working aggressively to become a destination for cruise vessels to home port during the summer months.

To do this, we need more ports involved. During the first week of December, Stephen Burnett, the Executive Director of the Great Lakes Cruising Coalition, and myself, toured the north shore of Superior to present cruise shipping workshops in Red Rock and Wawa. In total, over 45 people turned out to learn about being cruise and port ready, identify opportunities within their communities to welcome cruise itinerary planners, develop memorable quality shore excursion programs and go through the steps to certify their secure marine facilities.

In each community, we met with a cross section of community political and business leaders, outfitters, EDOs and interested citizens interested in learning about the possibilities. Once regarded by many as not possible for freshwater coastal communities, they saw the potential that the future of fresh water experiential cruising can bring to their economic diversification efforts. The atmosphere throughout each work shop was abuzz with positive contributions.

We also chatted a little about the other market we've ignored and that is the super yacht class of private and charter vessel. These private yachts, from 80 to 200 feet, represent a new and exciting clientele for the Superior coastal communities. Thousands of these vessels ply North American coastal regions alone, they're owned by those with a sizable disposable income and they are looking for new, safe and interesting destinations. What better place to escape hurricane season of the lower eastern seaboard and gulf coastal regions of the US than the freshwater of the great lakes.

It takes everyone working together across municipal and geo political boundaries to make this happen. With several smaller lines interested in entering service, now is the time for regions to start getting ready. A big thanks to Leslie Fredericks and Ray Rivard of Red Rock and Lori Johnson of Wawa for coordinating the sessions and playing host to us last week.

If you want to learn more about becoming a cruise ship destination port, visit http://www.greatlakescruisingcoalition.com/. To learn more about the super yacht industry, visit http://www.ussuperyacht.com/.

Thunder Bay Heralds a new era of Cruise Shipping

At 7:30 AM on Friday July 3rd, the M.V. Clelia II, slipped past the main light in Thunder Bay harbour and proceeded to the Pool 6 cruise ship dock to berth for the next 9 hours. With her horns blasting through the calm sunny morning, she awakened Thunder Bay with her arrival and awakened a new era in cruise shipping for the community. Judging by the 500 or so residents who came to the dock to watch her throughout the day, her wake up call was a welcome sound.

The arrival of the Clelia II marks a fantastic new relationship with New York based Travel Dynamics, (http://www.traveldynamicsinternational.com/) the vessel's charterer. The vessel will be making 11 scheduled stops in the city over the next 2 1/2 months to allow passengers the opportunity to explore the community. While in the community, the vessel's guests will be touring Fort William Historical Park (http://www.fwhp.ca/), the Forest Research Station and have opportunities to rent bicycles dockside or tour the shopping districts by motor coach shuttle or on their own. The vessel is a stunning and luxurious boutique expedition cruising vessel and offers its 100 guests an incredibly high level of service. The itineraries give guests the chance to learn more about the communities they visit and that has provided us the opportunity to showcase our unique attributes, including the exciting realities of a city in economic transition.

Its also historic for Tourism Thunder Bay and the city in general. Its the first passenger vessel to dock at the 100 year old Pool 6 dock and makes the start of the sites transformation to major Great Lakes cruise shipping facility. This spring, Transport Canada mandated security and safety upgrades, concrete dock repairs, site grading, painting, leveling of topsoil and seeding took place to create a functional and practical staging are to accommodate the vessel to Transport Canada security standards and create a convenient location to service the vessels. The proximity of Tourism Thunder Bay's main administration center on the property has also given us the ability to create a comfortable area for the vessel's crews to sit, check emails and enjoy a coffee while ashore.

Because Tourism Thunder Bay manages the facility, it gives us the control and flexibility to attract new lines without having to juggle passenger traffic within the health and safety challenges posed by docking at industrial facilities. We can now respond quickly and with greater flexibility to meeting the needs of the industry and in attracting more vessels. While this new undertaking is a significant addition to the responsibilities of Tourism Thunder Bay, management of the facility through a division with a focused economic development and tourism focus will be essential to its long term success.

While the approximately 100 passengers who will visit the city on Clelia II this year may sound small compared to the 652 000 visitors the city receives annually, it is in fact a very important part of two growing segments in the tourism industry -expedition cruise shipping and group travel. The economic impact of the Clelia's visit to the City is estimated at over $521 000 this summer as the vessel touches more than 30 businesses and organizations from security, waste management and water supply companies to attractions, retail, motor coach operators, stevedores and vessel management firms. In fact, when one looks at the number of people involved in the welcoming of the vessel over 11 days, its the equivalent of almost two full time jobs annually.

Long term, however, the cruise shipping industry offers phenomenal potential for Thunder Bay to position itself as a major expedition cruising hub for the Great Lakes. Our airport infrastructure, the newly announced Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area and the abundance of stunning and unique natural environment and history of human settlement around the lake basin gives this the potential to become one of the world's next hot expedition cruise shipping markets. Eleven hundred visitors can become twenty five hundred and can become five thousand before long if we continue to make the necessary investment in our dock infrastructure. Becoming a hub for the cruise shipping industry means vessels start or end their itineraries here. This translates into hotel rooms for passengers flying in or out of the city, new airport and airline business, new opportunities for vessel servicing companies, grocers and others. This means an economic impact that expands almost four fold over the same vessel making day stops only. It also opens opportunities to smaller communities along the lake shore regionally as smaller vessels can dock or anchor close by and offer their guests unique experiences shore side as well.

However, getting us to July 3rd took the work of a phenomenal number of organizations, businesses and people across North America. They include Travel Dynamics, Navitrans, Stephen Burnett of the Great Lakes Cruising Coalition, William Hryb of Lakehead Shipping, Canadian Border Services, Transport Canada, Lake Superior Visits, Thunder Bay Tug Services, Thunder Bay Port Authority, Winning Streak Charters and Caribou Coach, Signs Now, Superior Pedicabs, Opportunity Thunder Bay and all of our local and international media partners who helped general public support for this fantastic development.

For me personally, this has been the culmination of almost 6 years of personal passion for the potential of Great Lakes Cruising. Seeing the vessel dock effortlessly on July 3rd was only the start of what will become a great addition to our city's waterfront.

Thunder Bay Works the Crowd at Seatrade 2009

Seatrade Cruise Shipping Miami 2009 (http://www.cruiseshipping.net/) has come and gone and for the second year in a row, Tourism Thunder Bay had an enhanced presence at the world's largest gathering of cruise shipping industry decision makers.

As part of the 25 member Great Lakes Cruising Coalition or GLCC (http://www.greatlakescruisingcoalition.com/), I attended this year's event for the second year in a row, bringing a dedicated Lake Superior flavour to the exhibition. This year, I joined the Executive Director of the GLCC, Stephen Burnnet, and fellow directors from both Canadian and U.S. ports to sell the Great Lakes as a new and exciting destination for cruise lines always looking ahead to develop new itineraries.

The weeklong event culiminated with a reception and dinner at Miami Beach's Delano Hotel, hosted by the GLCC and sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, that attracted 12 vessel owners and tour operators. This dinner allowed us to build new relationships with qualified and interested vessel operators and gave us all time to sell the lakes in a informal and relaxed setting. We're looking forward to following up with these interested parties throughout the coming year.

Thunder Bay was also profiled as an up and coming destination in the Seatrade edition of Cruise North America magazine and a picture of our new Pool 6 cruise ship dock was featured (with your's truly kayaking adjacent to it). This exposures helps increase our profile and ensure we remain part of the group leading the charge to bring cruising to the Great Lakes.

For Tourism Thunder Bay, our involvement in the GLCC is a long term strategic investment to attract an affluent niche experience seeking market. With two vessels, including Travel Dynamic's MV Clelia II (http://www.traveldynamicsinternational.com/) scheduling 12 stops in the city in 2009, the direct and induced economic impact of these vessels will be in excess of $523 000. Working to bring the vessels here and keeping the operators satisfied takes a lot of effort and over 40 local businesses, many small operations, benefit economically. In fact, despite the vessels only being in port a total of 12 days, the financial impact spread across the tour operators, visitor attractions and vessel support services will create almost 2 full year equivilants of employment. While that doesn't seem like a lot, every job counts.

An increased presence at industry venues like Seatrade serve other important functions that align with our tourism strategy. Focusing on industry forums rather than consumer shows allows us to work on partnerships that could bring hundreds, if not thousands of visitors into the city through one or several group operators whereas through consumer shows, where thousands of people come through the door and great efforts are made to bring visitors to the community two or three at a time.

Placing greater focus on the experience seeker is a key change in our marketing strategy, and increases the likelyhood of success as well. Seventy five percent of travellers choose a destination based on whole or in part on the experience they are looking for and not the destination. Building itineraries and services to attract even a small share of the multi billion dollar cruising market provides greater opportunities to connect with potential new visitors and raise the profile of Thunder Bay across a wider global audience. Cruise shipping has a sexiness to it and being a port of call only elevates our community's reputation as a modern progressive city and must see destination.

I believe Lake Superior is as exotic as the Galapagos Islands for the right cruise operator and believe Thunder Bay has the strategic advantages and assets to be positoned as a cruise terminal for the smaller expedition class of cruise ships. The vastness of the lake, a variety of ports and shore activities around it, and unique selling propositions such as the Lake Superior National Marine Conservation area help define the product. The city's port and airport infrastructure give us great airlift and vessel servicing capabilities, making for an ideal opportunity to develop new economic opportunities for the community and region.

Its not a quick win and with cruise lines looking 3-6 years out for new vessel deployment opportunities, the work we do now will take time to materialize. However as I like to say, "There are two good times to plant a tree. 20 years ago and today."