Opinion

Organizations are rallying behind the cruise industry more than I’ve seen since 2004. New initiatives are being rolled out, many of them from the “Tent City” proposal developed by TPR and the Museum of Northern BC at the beginning of the year.

This past week I had the opportunity to sit down and speak with someone who is new in town and much of the conversation had to do with where Prince Rupert is at, where it is going and where it has come from.

Editor: There has been a recent upsurge in material being published in the Northern View on the subject of Tourism – even though the headlines may suggest other topics:- “Restoring Cruise Industry”, “Understanding Visitor Spending…”, as examples.

According to the 2007 Prince Rupert Visitor Study, during June, July and August of 2007, about 189,000 visitors to Prince Rupert contributed over $52 million to our economy.

Social media continues to be the underlying theme of conversation with visiting writers. I hope that this fear-driven uncertainty about the future of publishing doesn’t ultimately distract us from the simple truth that we are trying to bring our stories to readers around the world.

While Enbridge continues moving forward with the Joint Review Panel process, which will undoubtedly provide answers to some of the numerous questions people have about the project, I just don’t see how this project moves forward - with or without government approval.

The tourism season is upon us. This week brings the first cruise ship of the season, the 2240-passenger Norwegian Pearl. Independent visitor traffic is already well under way, and here at Tourism Prince Rupert we have our first travel writer visit of the season.