Cruising as Canada’s Tourism Cure?

Terrorism fears. New and confusing passport requirements. A slumping U.S. dollar and a surging loonie. These are a few of the reasons put forward to explain Canada’s sluggish tourism industry. But, writes Brian Flemming in a Globe and Mail opinion piece, they’re all flimsy excuses that obscure the real issue: “The real reason for the latest crisis is the failure of imagination of those involved in Canadian tourism, in both the private and public sectors. Until this imagination deficit is cured, Canada will continue to be seen worldwide as a boring, boreal tourist destination.”

We’ve noted Canada’s image problem before, and I’ll certainly agree that some creativity is needed to get beyond the “moose and Mounties” reputation. But I’m not sure that I agree with Flemming’s solution. After describing an epiphany that occurred on a recent boat trip from Montreal to Thunder Bay, via four of the Great Lakes, he unveils his solution to Canada’s tourism woes: cruise ships.

The story continues:

Did I see cruise ships crammed with foreign tourists, photographing the fall foliage of the Thousand Islands, or being fascinated by their passage though the St. Lawrence Seaway or the Welland Canal, or docking for a day to visit Toronto, Niagara Falls or Cleveland. I did not. But I think I should have.

Flemming presents a convincing list of the attractions in the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes region: stunning scenery, vibrant port cities, battlefields from the War of 1812, shipwrecks and massive engineering projects like the Rideau Canal system. But I’m not convinced that conventional cruise ships are the best way for visitors to enjoy them—or that large-scale cruises would be good for either local economies or local eco-systems.

This call for an expanded cruise industry in some of Canada’s oldest waterways comes at a time when a new waterway is just opening up—any bets on how long we’ll have to wait to see the first cruisers making home videos of the Northwest Passage?

 

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