Page numbers refer to the downloadable PDF document below.
- 315 ships and 909,000 passengers are scheduled for 2024 (p1)
- Mostly late departures (p5) with 72% departing after 11pm and 64% at midnight (p8). 89% depart after 10pm.
- 58% of ships arrive at or after 7pm (p12); their passengers spending an average of just 4.2 hours in port – and approximately 2 hours on shore, if they choose to disembark. This, in addition to onboard accommodation and dining, likely accounts for the low level of cruise passenger spending on shore (less than 2% of the region’s tourism expenditure).
- In July there are 4 days and in August 2 days without cruise ships (p7)
- 29% of cruise ships are in port for less than 4 hours and 58% for less than 5 hours (p7).
- Short stops in Victoria allow ships to (1) avoid the PVSA penalty of $US778 per passenger ($US3.3 million for the largest ships) and (2) dump their garbage in Victoria.
- The hourly greenhouse gas (GHG) emission rate when 3 ships are in port is approximately 45% of the City of Victoria’s average hourly rate (p9 & p21)
- 58% of visits are from ships which scored a grade “D” or worse on the Friends of the Earth environmental scorecard (p9)
- The average passenger time in port is 5.7 hours (p1) down from 6.7 hours in 2019. The average ship time in port is 6.2 hours (p10) . The difference between “Passenger time” and “Ship time” is due to the larger ships having shorter stays.
Despite both the residents’ and the City of Victoria’s concerns there appears to be no limit to the annual growth of cruise ship numbers.
At a time when the environment should be our highest priority the cruise industry continues to deliver increasing amounts of green house gas, noise, speeding traffic and international garbage to our community.
Please also visit fair-sailing.com, an initiative to advocate for responsible cruise tourism practices that prioritize the interests of residents and local businesses….
…and. check out “Comparative Economic Impacts of Cruise & non-Cruise Tourism in Greater Victoria” which finds that cruise passengers account for about 12% of tourism traffic but less than 2% of tourism spending.
