Nunavut tourism in rebound mode

By Derek Neary Northern News Services

The tourism industry has been in a gradual rebound from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Travel Nunavut, a not-for-profit membership association that encourages tourism development, has roughly 140 tourism operators as members. Approximately 75 per cent of them are based in Nunavut and 69 of them are Inuit-owned businesses.

A total of 3,011 cruise ship passengers visited the territory in 2022. That represented the start of a promising recovery from 3,400 cruise passengers in 2018 and 4,219 passengers in 2019, prior to the pandemic. In 2019, there were 47 community visits to 17 Nunavut communities by cruise ships. That brought an economic impact of $848,000 just among the cruise operators, who paid to access tours, performances and logistics support for their passengers, according to the Department of Economic Development and Transportation (ED&T).

Cruise ships were not permitted in Nunavut’s Arctic waters in 2021 due risks associated with Covid19. The Government of Nunavut (GN) stated that it expects “to see improvement in the following years” in cruise ship traffic.

Community Tourism and Cultural Industries will have $1.3 million to work with through GN funding in 2023-24, which matches the amount

Cruise ship passengers numbered just over 3,000 in Nunavut in 2022. That’s not too far from 3,400 cruise passengers that visited the territory in 2018, but there’s a ways to go to reach the 4,200 passengers who came in 2019, prior to the pandemic. Photo courtesy of the Department of Economic Development and Transportation granted a year earlier. The territorial government also provides $1 million to Travel Nunavut under a partnership agreement.

To help develop and market Nunavut attractions, ED&T is also responsible for Destination Nunavut, the territory’s designated marketing organization and part of the Tourism and Cultural Industries Division.

In addition, $89,000 will go to the Visitors Centre Program in 202324, the same amount designated in 2022-23.

ED&T stated that tourism businesses can also be supported through the Small Business Support Program (SBSP) and Strategic Investment Program (SIP), if they meet eligibility requirements. This is application-based and varies from year to year. ED&T also offers mentorship opportunities for those in the tourism industry. The department was inviting applications from tourism business owners and operators up until June 10 for participation in an Inuit Tourism Business Mentorship Program. Five applicants would be accepted for mentorships lasting four to six months and involving up to 10 days of “dedicated project time” through in-person and virtual sessions.

“This program supports tourism business owners in Nunavut to leverage their skills, knowledge, and professional capacity to grow their businesses,” the department stated.

Another training program is the Inuit Cruise Internship Program, where 12 Inuit can receive an introduction to working aboard a cruise ship.

Additionally, the department provides training to communities — hamlets, artists, and various businesses — to prepare them to maximise benefits from cruise ship visits. The program is called Cruise Ready! and is delivered to two communities a year, based on demand.

Revenue losses among Nunavut tourism operators ranged between 70 and 90 per cent in 2020-21 amid the pandemic, according to the Department of Economic Development. An estimated 74 per cent of Nunavut tourism operators temporarily shut down their ventures, 61 per cent laid off staff and 12 per cent went out of business permanently. By comparison, during surging tourism in 2018, prior to the pandemic, the GN estimated that visitor spending reached $476 million between April and September. There were 141,900 visits to the territory at that time, including business, leisure or travel for other personal purposes, including Nunavummiut visiting other communities.