Downtown Vancouver is bracing for the onslaught of thousands of cruise ship passengers this Friday.
Port of Vancouver says 13,300 passengers are expected to arrive at the Canada Place cruise terminal on Friday alone, and another 24,500 are expected to arrive by the middle of this month.
A large number of embarking and disembarking cruise passengers will be expected between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. at Canada Place each day on May 6, May 14 and May 15.
Last year, Canada Place saw 12,100 passengers arrive on May 1, the first high cruise volume day of the season.
Charles Gauthier with Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association says the cruise ship terminal is right in the heart of the business district and downtown area, placing it within a walking distance of the shopping, restaurants and hotels.
“It’s great to have this kind of activity in our downtown area combined with the low Canadian dollar and the increase in the numbers of American tourists,” says Gauthier. “We are hoping it will be another banner year for tourism and the downtown area benefits immensely from that.”
The port says higher than normal traffic volumes are anticipated in the downtown core as the result. It’s expected the demand for taxis and public transportation will skyrocket as well.
The port authority will have additional staff on hand to assist passengers, and Vancouver Police will be providing extra traffic control at the ship terminals.
Gauthier says they will also have their own downtown “ambassadors” in the area to provide directions and answer questions.
Vancouver expects to welcome approximately 830,000 cruise passengers in 2016. The port authority says more than $2 million in local economic activity comes in with each ship that calls at Canada Place.
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