The first ship of the 2018 cruise season arrived in Vancouver Tuesday morning, kicking off what's expected to be a banner year for the industry.
The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority said 241 vessel visits carrying about 895,000 passengers are expected in the city this season, representing a seven per cent increase in passenger volume over 2017.
A voyage to Hawaii on the Star Princess, which docked at Canada Place just before 7 a.m., is getting the ball rolling.
Carmen Ortega, manager of trade development for the VFPA, said the visits are expected to directly contribute about $840 million to B.C.'s economy.
"The benefit of being a home port is their journey begins and ends here in Vancouver," Ortega said. "That means they fly in through YVR, they often stay two or three nights at local or hotels, or even hotels around the province, and then they do sightseeing."
Cruise traffic took a big hit in 2010 after Vancouver lost some Alaskan cruise traffic to Seattle, but things appear to be bouncing back. The VFPA said passenger volumes have been strong for the past five years, and the 2019 season is expected to break records.
"We're going to see over a million passengers here through Vancouver, which will be our highest year ever," Ortega said.
That's partly due to new cruise lines coming to the city, and existing lines replacing older, smaller ships with newer, bigger ones. Among the new ships coming to the port this year is the Norwegian Bliss, which can carry more than 4,000 passengers, making it the largest cruise ship to visit Vancouver to date.
The VFPA said 2018 will also see the local cruise industry mark its 25-millionth passenger, who will be arriving in the city on a Holland America ship in May.
But with a bustling cruise season comes some commuter headaches for people who live and work downtown. When Canada Place is at its capacity with three vessels docked at once, well over 10,000 passengers can pass through the city daily, piling into cabs and onto public transit.
That won't happen until the first weekend in May, but will continue almost every weekend after that until the end of September.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Nafeesa Karim
