Cape Breton tourism operators anxious after cruise ship season cancelled

Cape Breton tourism companies are increasingly concerned about keeping their doors open as the upcoming cruise season has been canceled for a second straight year.

Last week the federal government did announced that cruise lines will no longer be allowed in Canadian waters in 2021.

Cape Breton faced the best cruise season ever in 2020, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, as a second cruise ship berth was completed in Sydney, and many operators prepared for it by upgrading facilities.

The Cape Breton Miners Museum in Glace Bay, for example had installed an underground mine simulator This allows people with mobility problems to experience the mine without having to do the underground tour.

Instead, executive director Mary Pat Mombourquette said the museum’s revenue had dropped 95 percent.

“In 2019, we had sales of nearly $ 200,000 and last year we had less than $ 20,000,” said Mombourquette.

The revenue at the Cape Breton Miners Museum has fallen. (George Mortimer / CBC)

She said the museum uses 70 percent of its revenue to run, and there is a real possibility it won’t survive the year if it doesn’t get help.

Dan Coffin, County Victoria Ward’s Tourism and Development Officer, said the county information center in Baddeck only advised 2,076 visitors in 2020, compared to over 18,000 in 2019.

According to Coffin, it is now difficult for operators to know what resources they need. The operators knew beforehand how many cruise passengers would be visiting on a given day.

“There’s a lot of planning that can go into this, and without it, they’ve had to rely a little more on staff and, in some cases, cut their hours,” said Coffin.

The Highland Village Museum in Iona. (Brent Kelloway / CBC)

The Highland Village Museum in Iona is part of the Nova Scotia Museum and has received government funding that enabled it to keep all of its staff employed. However, the museum had to cut its season short and let the staff do other tasks like painting and repairing.

Rodney Chiasson, the director of the Highland Village, said the season would continue to be shorter if visitors only came from the Atlantic.

“We didn’t really make it in the Atlantic Bubble because people were too shy to do anything inside,” said Chiasson.

Rodney Chiasson is a director at the Highland Village Museum. (Brent Kelloway / CBC)

Carabin’s & Transoverland, a bus, coach charter and rental company based in Reserve Mines, offers tours to cruise passengers around Cape Breton.

Operations manager Mitch Carabin said the company is losing 40 percent of its revenue without cruise lines docking.

“In the high season of our crew up to 40 people work for us. That shows me that they are not working,” said Carabin.