The City of Victoria and the province are “giving away the environment, local amenities and frequently residents’ peace and quiet far too cheaply,” said Brian Scarfe, of BriMar Consultants Ltd., in his 73-page report, Victoria as a Port of Call: The Costs and Benefits of Cruise Ship Visits.
Scarfe suggests that the levy apply only once to any Alaska-bound cruise stopping at one or more B.C. ports, including those originating in Vancouver. This could raise $25 million annually, he said in the study.
He likens the levy to the existing hotel tax. He suggests that $5 of the levy be for a program, co-ordinated with Alaska, that puts independent observers on cruise ships to monitor Alaskan environmental and marine discharge requirements, and look at safety, health and sanitation practices.
The remaining money could go to port cities to help mitigate adverse social and environmental impacts of cruise tourism, and to pay for port infrastructure, he said.
Scarfe prepared the study for the James Bay Neighborhood Association at no cost. A sessional lecturer at the University of Victoria’s economics department, Scarfe teaches cost-benefit analysis, resource economics and international economics.
A James Bay resident, he previously chaired the University of Alberta’s economics department.
Victoria’s cruise industry has grown over the years. This year, 210 visits by 22 ships are scheduled at Ogden Point in James Bay. More than 400,000 passengers and 140,000 crew members will be aboard.
When the first ship pulls in Saturday, it will kick off the Alaska cruise season which runs into October.
The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, which owns Ogden Point, as well as the City of Victoria, local businesses and federal and provincial governments all champion the industry.
But as it has grown, James Bay residents have raised health concerns resulting from sulphur dioxide emitted from the ships, as well as congested streets and noise from traffic carrying visitors.
“The number of cruise ship visits to Ogden Point, on a seasonal basis, now exceeds the limits of acceptable change,” the report said. “It is time to put residents, who live here most of the time, ahead of cruise ship passengers who visit Victoria for a few short hours.”
Sonterra Ross, acting CEO for the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, said Thursday the authority was not consulted on the report and needed more time “to review the material and judge the merits.”
“We have some initial concerns about the conclusions that are made in the report. They appear at first glance to be based on assumptions rather than deductions. And that they are based on data that is not necessarily applicable to the situation,” she said.
Scarfe’s study was presented Thursday to the city’s environment and infrastructure committee.
“We need to take better charge of the cruise ship industry as it affects Victoria,” Scarfe said.
Other recommendations include permanent air-quality monitoring, rules requiring low-sulphur fuel to be used by ships, reducing the number of ship visits, updating marine effluent discharge regulations, and finding better ways to move passengers to and from Ogden Point.
The analysis found that cruise tourism is “at best a marginal economic activity benefiting a few while imposing costs on the community,” Scarfe said.
Annual economic benefits from the cruise industry reach $24 million at most, while costs are at least $28 million and could go up $33 million, the study says.
For the most part, economic benefits go to the business community and the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, while costs are born by residents and government, Scarfe said.
Benefits stem from money spent by passengers, crew and cruise lines in Greater Victoria. They include everything from souvenir shopping, tours and attractions to wastewater collection and ship repair by local companies.
Costs include human health impacts from ship emissions, as well as traffic noise, wear on road infrastructure, public subsidies, marine effluents and lower property values, Scarfe said.
“We have been far too long gulled by assertions of numbers that simply do not add up. Benefits are often grossly overstated and [there is] seldom any consideration of the costs,” Scarfe said in an interview.
Tim Van Alstine, president of the James Bay Neighbourhood Association, said: “The cash cow for GVHA is a headache for the residents whose neighbourhood is made less livable by the negative impacts of cruise ship tourism.”
Scarfe said he is not against cruise ships but is presenting ways to mitigate impacts of a cruise business that represents no more than five per cent of the Greater Victoria tourism industry. Surveys have suggested the capital region’s tourism sector is worth about $1 billion annually.
It’s time for Victoria to take more control over the cruise industry, instead of being “subservient” to the Seattle-based cruise ship industry, Scarfe said.
“Seattle is out-competing Vancouver as a home port, and as a result, port-of-call activity in Victoria has increased,” Scarfe said. American law requires cruise ships to make a stop in a foreign port, so those based in Seattle typically pull into Victoria on their last night before returning to that U.S. city.
This year, 84 per cent of the 210 cruise ship visits to Victoria have their next stop scheduled at Seattle, or further south, according to the schedule posted on the harbour authority’s website. More than 60 per cent arrive at 6 p.m. or later.
Home-port economic activity in Vancouver is about 8.5 times larger than the economic gain in Victoria as a port-of-call, Scarfe said. “Hence, the B.C. economy as a whole loses significantly as this shift occurs.”
Extra money flows into a home port through several avenues, including passengers who spend extra time in that community as tourists, thus paying for hotels, meals, additional transportation, and shopping.
For example, the Disney Wonder cruise ship will make 20 stops in Victoria in 2012 because the vessel is switching its home port to Seattle, from Vancouver. The economic loss to Vancouver next year due to the Disney move is pegged at $36 million, while Victoria’s gain will be $3.5 million in 2012, according to the harbour authority.
Total economic benefit cited by the harbour authority is expected to reach $150 million this year. Last year, the authority said the average spending by passengers was $59.61. The crew average was $58.77.
Scarfe said the impact of crew spending is overestimated because most are on duty and on the ship. He figures the crew spending average is closer to $12.
While cruise ships bring financial benefits to the harbour authority and some companies, much of the money coming to the local economy travels to Seattle-based owners of companies providing cruise related services, Scarfe said. He noted when shore excursions are sold on-board to passengers, cruise lines get a share of that cost. Source timescolonist.com... For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today
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