PICTOU – The closure of the ship Hector will be a devastating blow to tourism in the area.
With 19,000 tourists visiting the site last summer alone, Cindy MacKinnon, executive director of the Pictou County Tourist Association, says the full impact of the closure is not yet known, but believes it will be felt throughout the county.
“If it’s closed for the season, we anticipate it will have a huge impact, not only on Pictou or Pictou County, but the whole Northumberland shore,” she said, adding that tourism marketing advises areas to find something no one else has and promote it. For the Northumberland shore, that was the ship Hector.
“We have our own tall ship, and no one else can say that.”
With Tuesday’s news that the town would not be opening the Hector Heritage Quay this summer due to lack of funding, it’s left organizations like the PCTA reeling at the potential losses.
“Businesses in general – accommodations, restaurants, corner stores, gift shops – they will all feel it,” MacKinnon said. “People are certainly coming in to see the Hector and then staying and seeing other museums and attractions. Then there’s things like the loss in bus tours … the small port cruise ship initiative. They will all feel the effects.”
MacKinnon was still gathering details on the reasons for the announcement when reached by The News Tuesday afternoon, but pledged that the PCTA would do whatever it could to rally the government to provide funding for the site.
“We’re certainly putting our support behind it, and once we know the right channels, we will certainly take them,” MacKinnon said.
Faus Johnson, who chairs the organization, learned of the decision through a phone call Tuesday morning and wasn’t sure what it would mean for the group.
The board of directors will meet today in Pictou to discuss the situation and have invited town council to sit in on the session.
“I find it very disconcerting that this has transpired,” Johnson said.
“In terms of determining how this will affect the ship and the activities of the Ship Hector Foundation, I just don’t know yet.”
Johnson says the organization knew the ship was in trouble, but he’d never dreamed it would come to this.
“I knew there were funding issues, but I didn’t think it would come to this,” he said. “As far as I was concerned, this was not in the tea leaves.”
Luke Young, chairman of the Pictou Business and Marketing Society, said it’s not a good news story and called the decision “a low point for the town.”
But, he said, the town may be down but not out.
“The town has been through many other low points and it’s come back. We have great people. The people are always up to a different type of challenge.”
Young – who is also vice-chairman of the Ship Hector Foundation – said the Hector Heritage Quay is more than just a tourist attraction. It’s part of the town’s fabric.
“It’s an important piece of our community…It brings people together.”
