Cruise ships return to B.C., with tourist dollars and environmental concerns in tow

Simone Kearney-Rodriguez is looking forward to putting cash in the register this weekend when the first crowd of cruise ship passengers pull into port in Victoria, B.C., on Saturday, after the last two cruise seasons were cancelled due to COVID-19.

The owner of the Beaver Gift Shop says her family business almost sunk without the support of hundreds of thousands of cruise tourists that have kept her afloat for more than 30 years.

 "We're still alive, but it took everything that I had to keep going," she told CBC's On the Island.

She's not alone: according to the Tourism Industry Association of B.C., cruise ships contribute about $2.7 billion annually to the provincial economy, supporting tourism-oriented businesses in coastal cities like Victoria, Vancouver and Prince Rupert.

"We're a tourist town," said Bruce Williams, CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce in an interview in the James Bay neighbourhood, where docked tourists stock up on gifts and candy.

"These businesses have always been reliant on tourism and some of them are down 80 or 90 per cent of revenue."

More than 300 ships are expected to call at B.C. ports between now and November, bringing in upward of a million customers. But along with their tourist dollars are some concerns, including the possible arrival of new cases of COVID and the environmental impact of giant ships floating through delicate coastal ecosystems.

The first ship to arrive on B.C.'s coast is the Koningsdam, part of the Holland America line.

The ship hosts a seven-day cruise from San Diego, Calif., to Vancouver, and will arrive at a Victoria port Saturday.

Under federal regulations, cruise ship passengers arriving in Canada need to be fully vaccinated and tested for COVID-19 before boarding at departure points, and are monitored before arrival in Canada.

Dr. Horacio Bach of the University of British Columbia's faculty of medicine says cruise companies appear to have learned lessons from the early days of the pandemic, when COVID-19 outbreaks forced them to stay at sea for weeks, and now have strong testing regimes and medical facilities on board to prevent problems.

Recent research by environmental organizations warns the industry is treating the province's sensitive coast as a dumping ground for polluted wastewater, and that what bodes well for business is bad news for the environment.

"B.C. is the toilet bowl for the cruise industry," says Anna Barford, a shipping campaigner at environmental advocacy group Stand.earth.

Barford says cruising creates more greenhouse gas emissions than air travel, and lax Canadian regulations mean billions of litres of potentially dangerous sewage, greywater and washwater are likely dumped in B.C. coastal waters every year.