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Port cities urged not to waste cruise ship increase

Ports across Atlantic Canada expect an economic boost this summer from an increase in cruise visitors, but one industry analyst says merchants must do more to avoid wasting the opportunity.

Local tour providers can always benefit from visiting cruise ships, but merchants need to be creative when it comes to products they sell to passengers, says Ross Klein, a professor at Memorial University who studies the international industry.

"It's easy to open your door and have passengers come in and look around and walk out and not buy anything," he told Information Morning Saint John.

"It's trying to get in the head of the cruise passenger and think in terms of, 'What are they likely going to buy?'"

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Last year, 600,000 cruise passengers landed at ports across the region, according to Cruise Atlantic Canada, a partnership focused on building the cruise business in the four provinces.

This year, Atlantic Canadian ports are expecting double-digit percentage increases in passenger traffic.

Cruise Atlantic Canada suggests Canada's 150th birthday will drive up business. Others say more tourists are simply interested in exploring this part of the country.

Sixty-five cruise ships are scheduled to arrive in Saint John this year, two more than in 2012.

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"Saint John is blessed by its location," Klein said.

But he said Saint John and other ports need to brand themselves and get into the mindset of what passengers are going to take advantage of.

"If Saint John can do things to make itself a better port, a better experience, more attractive to passengers ... that's only going to benefit the number of passengers you're going to get," he said.

"That's what builds a port and the branding of a port."

Klein didn't have specific numbers on a potential economic increase for the New Brunswick city, he said it's important to be ruthless in dealing with cruise lines, as with anyone else in business.

Carnival Corporation & PLC, which accounts for several ships that come into Saint John, makes a net profit of around $2.5 billion, with no corporate income tax, he said

"The cruise lines are in business to make money," he said.