In the last three years, the Great Lakes cruising industry has grown exponentially, breaking records with more cruise lines navigating northern waters.
Thunder Bay saw a record cruise shipping season with 16 vessel stops from four cruise lines that saw more than 6,000 visitors to the city, up from 5,000 in 2023.
Paul Pepe, manager of Tourism Thunder Bay, said that equated to an economic impact of $4.7 million.
"This is an opportunity for us to celebrate our partners that make this all happen," he said. "Given refinements that have been made with the infrastructure here at the facility, but also, the evolution of the shore experiences in the region as well in the city, has made the North Shore of Lake Superior very popular and appealing."
Pepe said cruising doesn't happen because of one community.
"We all work together," he said adding that smaller communities like Red Rock, Rossport and Terrace Bay are all benefiting from the cruising industry with ships docking in their harbours this summer.
The economic impact of all Great Lakes visits totalled over US$205 million, an increase of nearly 50 per cent from 2022. This number is driven by the upward trend in passenger numbers, port visits, shoreside spending, and Great Lakes cruising's growing domestic and international appeal.
John Schmidt, maritime program manager for the Council of Great Lakes, St. Lawrence, Governors and Premiers called Thunder Bay a "good model" because of its "great existing infrastructure" and how the city has found ways to take advantage of that.
"You're not having to put down huge chunks of change to build a new dock," Schmidt said. "Using the existing infrastructure and finding ways to optimize that make great wins at the margins."
Jorgen Cardestig, captain of the Viking Octantis, said he had returned to Thunder Bay with his ship so many times this year that he stopped counting.
"It's a big difference from when we started coming in 2022," he said. "It's now the third season up here, and we have seen changes and improvements for every season."
One of the most crucial cogs in the wheel is the services provided by Embark Port Services. Owned and operated by Sean Davis, Embark has been responsible for the transportation of passengers to and from the airport, the ship, hotels, shopping expeditions and attraction tours and visits.
"This year, with the added number of ship stops both here and at Silver Islet, we employed close to 70 people on and off throughout the season, which included tour guides, shuttle drivers, provisions people and then the bus companies," he said. "We saw growth this year in the actual tours that we offer to the cruise lines. Fort William Historical Park, Kakabeka Falls and Terry Fox, are all top of the list, and we're seeing more guests take those tours. We saw a lot of growth in the number of people going on walking and nature tours as well as in the number of people coming early before the turnaround days staying in hotels and seeing the sights and sounds before they get on the ship or get off the ship."
The ship arrivals have had a big impact on local food providers because they are the ones called when the captain wants local foods on board.
"We call East Coast Lobster, and the local folks and we've seen a great uptick in that (sourcing) from local beer companies," Davis pointed out. "There's a really strong passion, especially by Viking, to get some local product when they're in ports."
This season, the port saw visits from Viking's Octantis and Polaris vessels, Ponant's Le Champlain and Pearl Seas Cruises's Pearl Mist.
Next year's cruise ship season is anticipated to be just as busy with 14 visits to port already on tap.
Sandi Krasowski is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with the Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal
