By
Rebecca Gibson |
Destination Saint Lawrence welcomed more than 261,000 cruise ship passengers and 94,000 crew members, a 20% rise from 2013.
Closing its most successful international cruise season on 12 November, the association’s nine ports also welcomed 27 different ships on 348 stopovers in ports of call along the Saint Lawrence between May and November 2014.
“Back in 2008, Destination Saint Lawrence welcomed 127,000 international cruise passengers, a volume which stands in stark contrast to the 2014 figure of more than double that number,” said Tony Boemi, president of Cruise the Saint Lawrence, and vice president of growth and development with the Port of Montréal. “Bookings in hand point to continued growth in 2015 and 2016, and we anticipate surpassing the half million mark by about 2020,”
Since 2008, more than CAD$180 million has been invested to help develop new ports of call and establish a targeted strategy with international cruise lines. The Destination Saint Lawrence association now has nine member ports including Montréal, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Saguenay, Baie-Comeau, Sept-Îles, Havre Saint-Pierre, Gaspésie and Îles de la Madeleine.
Destination Saint Lawrence will continue to invest in improvements over the next few years, to ensure its ports are able to manage peak season traffic and provide high quality services. For example, there are currently port infrastructure development and greeting projects for both Montréal and Québec, the association’s primary ports of embarkation and disembarkation.
International cruise shipping on the Saint Lawrence generates CAD$285 million for the economy and supports 2,200 direct and indirect jobs, according to a 2012 Business Research and Economic Advisors study.