The Port of Vancouver, the biggest port in Canada, is already breaking previous data and the 12 months isn’t even over.
On October 1, 2024, the port shared a mid-year replace on cruise tourism, reporting that 554,546 passengers handed via the Canada Place cruise terminal between March 1 and June 30, 2024.
This marks a optimistic 13% improve over the file of 490,119 cruise company that visited the port throughout the identical time interval in 2023.
Port officers additionally introduced that its second busiest day of all time occurred on Monday, April 29, when slightly below 20,000 passengers handed via the terminal in sooner or later.
“Cruise continues to thrive in Vancouver—and that is testomony to the onerous work and dedication of everybody concerned within the native trade as a lot as it’s to the area’s pure magnificence,” mentioned Peter Xotta, President and CEO of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.
It’s value noting that a lot of this progress can probably be attributed to this 12 months’s Alaska cruise season – which often runs from late April to early October, and is very busy through the peak summer time months.
Alaska sailings have been in significantly excessive demand for 2024. As one of many prime homeports and ports of name for these voyages, Vancouver was gearing up for a file breaking summer time effectively upfront – and celebrated the optimistic affect on the native economic system.
“Being a homeport vacation spot the place cruise traces base their ships for the Alaska season means advantages are unfold all through the area, from native meals and beverage suppliers to ship gas and restore suppliers to downtown eating places and motels,” added Xotta.
The cruise terminal could have welcomed a complete of 329 cruise ships between March 11 and October 29, 2024, when the Alaska season formally concludes.
Coming from throughout all of the ships, an estimated 1.27 million cruisers have been anticipated to step onto Canadian soil earlier than the top of October, which is a 2% improve from 2023’s file numbers.
Whereas it’s nonetheless too early to unveil the ultimate numbers for the total period of the Alaska season, the mid-year replace leaves little doubt that the port won’t solely surpass its earlier data for the Alaska season, however for the 12 months as an entire.
Vancouver Improves Cruise Terminal Effectivity
As the largest port in Canada, the British Columbia port has made some modifications to enhance the expertise within the Canada Place Cruise Terminal.
Most notably, the port partnered with U.S. Customs and Border Safety (CBP) in June 2024 to implement facial biometric expertise to assist expedite the embarkation course of.
Whereas related automated programs have begun to roll out in airports all over the world, it’s the primary time that biometric expertise has been utilized in Canada’s cruise tourism.
Utilizing facial recognition and synthetic intelligence, passengers’ identities may be checked and verified in a matter of the seconds – which is way quicker than the time it takes port workers to manually confirm particular person journey paperwork by hand.
The system merely takes a photograph of every passenger through the boarding course of, which is then matched towards the picture from their journey paperwork – permitting them to get to the enjoyable way more conveniently and rapidly. Equally, after a cruise, debarkation may be a lot quicker and smoother.
Learn Additionally: Cruises From Vancouver: The Execs and Cons
Contemplating the port can accommodate as much as 4 cruise ships at a time throughout three berths, hundreds of passengers could possibly be passing via Canada Place on any given day – making it further necessary to expedite and enhance the check-in and debarkation processes.
Plus, it’s solely getting busier! Along with experiencing the second busiest day in its historical past on April 29, the port additionally sailed via an extra 5 of its prime ten busiest days between April and June.
Apart from being a prime Alaska port, Vancouver can be a preferred gateway to different thrilling locations, which means it could keep busy all 12 months.
Many cruise traces, together with however not restricted to Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, and Movie star Cruises, supply Vancouver-based sailings to locations like Hawaii, Tahiti and the South Pacific, america’ West Coast, the Panama Canal, the Mexican Riviera, and extra.
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