Communication the key to cruise tourism in Nunavut, say conference speakers

Drum dancers perform for a group of cruise ship visitors last summer in Cambridge Bay, visits that Vicki Aitaok has helped organize since 2007. Co-operation and collaboration with ships and people in Cambridge Bay are what make it work, she says.

Nunavut tour organizers and outfitters want closer communication and collaboration with cruise ship operators — and this is what cruise ship operations say they need, too.

That’s the common message that emerged March 21 at the Nunavut tourism conference, now underway in Iqaluit.

Among the worst things that can happen: a cruise ship doesn’t tell a Nunavut community that it’s coming.

So, suddenly 100 visitors pour out of zodiacs onto the community’s beach.

This has happened on at least two occasions in Cape Dorset, says Kristina Alariaq, who owns Huit Huit tours with her husband, Timmun, and it’s not an experience that people there enjoy.

“People in the community feel left out,” Alariaq said. “We feel objectified — we’re not participating in the visit anymore.”

And no one gets to show off what makes Cape Dorset famous around the world — its art.

This is what Cape Dorset is all about, said Alariaq.

But often cruise ships don’t contact their tour company, although “it’s not our job to try to go and find them,” said Alariaq, who attended this week’s Nunavut Tourism conference in Iqaluit.

“Cape Dorset is ready, but it’s not always fully utilized,” she said.

If cruise ships do contact Huit Huit Tours, the company can organize activities such as cultural performances, visits to West Baffin co-op and local artists.

And it can hire five or six guides.

The cost to a cruise ship with about 100 or so passengers? About $3,000, most of which goes to guides and performers.

At less than $30 a head, that’s not a lot of money, but cruise ships won’t pay more, she said.

And some cruise companies don’t want to pay anything at all, because they can get services free from visitors centres in some Nunavut communities.

“How do we make it sustainable for a long term? I’d like to see money go into the community to subsidize it in a businesslike way.”

The Alariaqs’ company gets no money from Government of Nunavut.

Last year the GN encouraged communities to apply for money from three territorial programs to help subsidize cultural events, tours, or arts and craft fairs offered in conjunction with cruise ship visits.

But that money goes only to communities not to private businesses, Alariaq pointed out.

Many at the tourism conference this week in Iqaluit suggested Nunavut Tourism should identify a private operator in the community to avoid the kind of situation cited by outfitter Billy Arnaquq of Qikiqtarjuaq, who said cruise ships never contact him about the opportunities he could supply.

Conference speaker Vicki Aitaok, who has organized cruise ship visits to Cambridge Bay since 2007, deals directly with cruise ships and people in the community.

“We sell the experience, and when you have a co-ordinated approach you can sell the package,” which brings puts about $18,000 per visit into Cambridge Bay, she said.

Adventure Canada, which operates Arctic cruises, wants to go to places that can offer that kind of well-organized visitor experience, said its operations manager, Alana Faber.

Faber, who also spoke at the conference March 21, said cruises also need more co-ordination and support at the regional level.

As an example, she said Greenland’s tourism association maintains a very interactive website.

And that’s been a “huge factor” in helping Adventure Canada decide to go to Greenland and what to do when the cruises are there, Faber said.

To improve the situation, Nunavut Tourism has a new cruise management plan and a new interactive website in the works, said the organization’s executive director, Colleen Dupuis.