By water and by rail, tourism numbers in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario are up, says a local tourism authority.
Ian McMillan, executive director for Tourism Sault Ste. Marie, said over the last two years the city has been experiencing increases in registrations of American tourists for the first time since 9/11.
Drastically lower bridge crossing numbers may suggest less American tourists crossing to Sault, Ontario — but McMillan said those figures are misleading.
“With the exchange rate not in our favour, the numbers of [Canadian] residents going over has diminished a lot and that affects the bridge traffic,” said McMillan.
Tony Haller, executive director of the Sault, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, said many businesses on his side of the river would like to see more Canadian tourists, but adds their city ‘never sees the highest highs or lowest lows,’ in terms of tourism dollars from Canada.
Although the ACR passenger train from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to Hearst has been out of operation since last summer, the Agawa Canyon Tour Train is still going strong.
Last year, Tourism Sault Ste. Marie took over the marketing for the Agawa Canyon Tour Train.
“We have really taken the reins with that. Last year, that train had the best year it had in ten years. Our city had some of the best summer/fall visitation it had in a long time, and we hope to continue that trend moving forward,” said McMillan.
More than 30,000 people took the tour train in 2015, its best year since 2007.
Last year, the Agawa Canyon Tour Train was featured in the Emmy-nominated season 8 of PBS's TravelScope.
McMillan said the episodes, which featured Sault Ste. Marie and Algoma, raised the profile of the region to American viewers.
This summer, two cruise ships — the Pearl Mist and the Victory I — will make 10 stops each at the dock near the Roberta Bondar Pavilion.
In 2014, the Pearl Mist visited six times with an estimated total of 1,400 tourists on board.
McMillan said this year will be by far the busiest cruise ship season.
“We’re looking at upwards of almost 4,000 visitors,” said McMillan.
The tourists on the cruise ships — many of whom are American — can choose to disembark at the pavilion, see the local sights and hopefully leave some money in the Sault.
“They have the day to go around, and they have some pre-scheduled tours to take them around to the Bushplane Museum, the Ermatinger Clergue site, they have certainly been in the malls shopping. It’s had a good economic impact on our community within the summer and the fall,” said McMillan.
This fall, Sault Ste. Marie is scheduled to host an NHL pre-season game between the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes, the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge and The National, a Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling event.
This weekend is a busy one for tourism, with the Soo Locks Engineer’s Weekend in Sault, Michigan and the International Bridge Walk between both cities Saturday.