Cuts in ferry service have sparked pleas for help up and down the coast, but Bella Coola is hurting more than most other communities.
The province plans to do away with the route between Port Hardy and the tiny village, which runs three times a week during the summer. While it might have looked like just another number when government and sa国际传媒 Ferries executives were hunting for savings, it looks huge to the 600 people nestled on the north coast.
The Tourism Industry Association of sa国际传媒 crunched the numbers, and says the loss of the route, called the Discovery Coast route, would cost the area $1.7 million a year. Overall, the route brings $5.6 million in tourism every year.
Tour operators book as long as a year ahead, so cancelling this summer鈥檚 schedule will hit them hard. The study says it is almost certain that some businesses would go under if the ferry stops sailing.
The cancellation also doesn鈥檛 make sense from a financial standpoint, the association says, because the government earns more in tax revenue than it costs to operate the route.
Hacking $18.9 million out of ferry service, as the province has demanded, means hardship for many small communities on the coast, which rely on the ferries as part of the highway system, and they are gathering ammunition to fight back. The travel industry鈥檚 study is the kind of ammunition they need.
The numbers from Bella Coola show what it means for one little town to lose its entire summer.
