MONTREAL -- Alain Flamand has owned his Quebec City woodworking shop for 40 years. But this year, he’s had to retool what’s on offer.
His previous products were mostly geared to tourists, and those aren’t coming anymore, so he needs to carve new things. “People from Quebec City don’t buy the Chateau Frontenac,” he said.
As of yesterday, he’s embarking on a new round of brainstorming after getting word that there won’t be cruise-ship traffic for another year.
“What we were hoping for was that hopefully, we could have the fall season reinstated,” said Tony Boemi, the president of Cruise the St. Lawrence.
But it wasn’t to be. That’s leaving a lot of merchants hanging, since over the past 12 years or so, the St. Lawrence cruise ship industry has grown by about 10 per cent a year, bringing an economic boost of about $750 million a year.
Flamand says it’s not necessarily a bad thing to have to adjust and rethink, because stuff happens.
“Yes, you have to manage your business a bit differently. Because you can’t rely on [tourism], kind of... there’s going to be something else coming along,” he said.
