Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) is expecting 12 expedition ships making 67 port calls around the Province in 2019, up from seven expedition ships making 46 calls last year and seven ships making 28 calls in 2017, according to the 2019 Expedition Market Report by Cruise Industry News.
The destination is also attracting large ships, most of which call in Corner Brook or St. John’s, including the 4,500-passenger MSC Meraviglia.
Altogether, NL expects to see 116 calls by 32 cruise ships from 24 companies at 21 different ports this year, according to Claire Sullivan, marketing manager, Cruise NL. She said this year’s calls will generate an estimated 96,688 passenger and 40,274 crew visits.
2019 will see an 81 percent increase in passengers from 2018 and more than twice the number of passengers visiting five years ago.
“We have seen a lot of growth in cruises for Newfoundland and Labrador over the last four years and the majority of that is due to the increase in expedition calls,” Sullivan said.
“Cruise NL will work closely with ports around NL, the Provincial tourism department, tour operators and key tourism stakeholders to ensure that key cruise players are informed about the cruise growth and trends and have access to resources that help them prepare to handle the current and future traffic,” Sullivan said. “Partners have delivered cruise port readiness training in several Labrador ports and we have port readiness documents available to any member. We also work closely with our Atlantic Canadian counterparts and share and learn best practices.”
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About the Expedition Market Report:
The 2019 Expedition Market Report by Cruise Industry News is a comprehensive overview of the booming expedition market, profiling 39 operators, over 40 new ships and projecting capacity growth through 2027. The 196-page PDF is a deep dive into all aspects of the expedition cruise market.
