Stormy Weather

In this week’s issue of Canadian Travel Press, western editor Ted Davis reports that tourism interests on the scenic coast of BC north of Vancouver Island have already let it be known that they are very dismayed with the cancellation of a popular BC Ferries tour route for the upcoming travel season.

The BC government has announced the dismantling of the Discovery Coast Passage route, taking the large and comfortable Queen of Chilliwack out of service and replacing it with a much less usable vessel. The MS Nimpkish is small, slow and offers almost no passenger amenities. Passengers will be facing a long journey (9.5 hours) on the open deck vessel, during which they will have little choice but to sit in their cars for the whole trip.

Reactions from domestic tourism-based business owners, predicting a collapse in their revenues, have now widened to include inbound tour operators whose bookings by clients to visit BC from outside the country must now be reconsidered.

“We will not even contemplate subjecting our international visitors to the proposed new schedule,” said Bill Knowlton, the VP marketing and sales for Jonview Canada. “We will withdraw all of our current itineraries and counsel any client selling motorhomes to avoid the route.”

Knowlton sent his missive to the Todd Stone, BC minister of transportation and infrastructure, just before attending the ITB International Trade Fair in Berlin. There he met German tour operators who were also dismayed by the Discovery Coast decision.

For the full story in this week’s CTP, click here