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The city prepares to open a $4.7 million terminal to spur increased tourisim

Sunday, June 23, 2002

By The Associated Press

ERIE -- With its new waterfront terminal almost complete, Erie hopes to tap into the popularity of cruising the Great Lakes.

"We're going to be able to provide people something that's very desirable from a traveler's standpoint and position ourselves pretty well for drawing more of these cruises," said Raymond Schreckengost, executive director of the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority.

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At least, that's the plan.

By early fall, Erie expects to open its $4.7 million, 16,000-square-foot terminal, which is designed to accommodate the largest of ships currently serving the Great Lakes cruise business. At present, Great Lakes pleasure cruises draw about 25,000 passengers per year.

Erie has failed to draw many of those people. Only four ships -- carrying 445 passengers total -- docked in northwestern Pennsylvania last summer, according to the Port Authority.

If the new terminal increases business as hoped, the number of cruise ships visiting Erie could quadruple by 2005, Schreckengost told the Erie Times-News.

"People who started out wanting to cruise the Caribbean are now looking for different types of cruises," said John Oliver, executive director of the Erie Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Increasing Erie as a port of call can make a tremendous impact on industry and business."

Stephen Burnett, with the Great Lakes Cruising Coalition, said he expected business to grow to 60,000 to 70,000 passengers annually in the next few years and that Erie, by building the terminal, had improved its chances of being a frequent destination.

Burnett's group works with cruise ship operators and port officials in American and Canadian cities. He said cruise lines were looking for places to dock.

"These ships are floating resorts that are very expensive," he said. "So to be able to go into a professionally run port or facility during a port of call is critical to them."

Right now, six cruise ships are offering Great Lakes tours, the biggest of which is the MV Columbus with a capacity of 400 people. It doesn't stop in Erie.

But it could someday. Great Lakes Cruising Co., based in Ann Arbor, Mich., books cruises, and its president, Chris Conlin, said he was sending a representative to Erie soon to see the new terminal.

"We want to look at all aspects of it," Conlin said. "Any time someone is developing a tourism-friendly dock on the Great Lakes, we want to see it. ... Erie is a possibility for the future, certainly."

Schreckengost also would like to see the Port Authority purchase a $20 million high-speed ferry that would move people and cars between Erie and ports in Ontario. He says that if he had it today, he could fill it.

"I've got to raise 20 million bucks somewhere," he said.