Nunavut tourism industry starting to rebound after COVID-19 pandemic shut it down

Tourist visits in Nunavut have started to rebound since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figures provided by Parks Canada show that in one park alone, visitation in 2023-24 is at 77 per cent of where it was in the last season before the onset of the pandemic.

"Last year, we had 253 visitors," said Leanna Ellsworth, manager of Auyuittuq National Park. "Annually, we do get up to 300 visitors."

Ellsworth says of all five national parks in Nunavut, Auyuittuq is the most popular one.

But it's not just national parks that draw tourists.

Cruise ships also make their way to Nunavut communities, such as Pond Inlet.

"There was a bit of a slow start after the pandemic," said Dylan Mablick, Pond Inlet's economic development officer. "There weren't too many cruise ships visiting, but it started progressively increasing."

While he had no information about the state of things before the pandemic, Mablick said 20 cruise ships visited the community in 2022, with that total increasing to 30 by 2023.

But visiting cruise ships have created a bit of a divide in the community.

Some in the community depend on tourist dollars and cruise ships visiting in the summer to provide for their families and the community, whereas others say the cruise ships are causing major environmental and ecological damage, which has a knock-on effect on hunting.

Mablick says he understands both sides of the debate and said the local hunters and trappers organization helped develop a plan with cruise companies so that they could mitigate their impact.

Before, ships leaving Pond Inlet would sail westward through Nunavut waters, which would have an impact on the snow and ice as well as the local narwhal population. The ships now sail eastward through Baffin Bay.

Local tourism businesses stepping up

As alluded to by both Ellsworth and Mablick, tourism in Nunavut was decimated by the pandemic.

But the territory's tourism industry association says its membership has grown since before the pandemic.

"We've increased our Inuit-owned business membership by 12 per cent since pre-COVID," said Norine Naguib, acting executive director of Travel Nunavut.

Naguib also said they currently have 120 members, 82 of which are Inuit-owned businesses, and that they are anticipating surpassing 150 members by the end of the year.

She says they have also seen growth in tourists who want to engage in Indigenous tourism.

"It's reflected in the Canadian government's federal budget contribution to Indigenous tourism this year," Naguib said. "We're really looking forward to helping our members seize the opportunities that are available there."

More demand spurred by public consciousness

That contribution is worth $2.5 million, according to the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC), who will be administering the funds throughout the country. Keith Henry, their president and CEO, said in a press release that it shows Ottawa's commitment to Indigenous tourism.

"Indigenous-led destinations and packages have become exceptionally popular," he said in an interview with CBC News. "20 years ago, these packages would have been a significant novelty, if at all."

Henry said Indigenous tourism in Canada is forecasted to be back to what it was in 2019, which he says was almost $2 billion.

He said there has been a "tremendous change in what I would call consumer behaviour" when it comes to tourists. He says one reason behind this is that people are becoming more conscious of the world they live in.

"I think people perceive Indigenous culture and values as something that probably we should be following more closely," Henry said of the change in people's awareness.

The other reason behind the increase, Henry said, is because of the hundreds of unmarked graves being discovered at sites of former residential schools across the country. He said that made Canadians aware of the country's history.

"I've seen a tremendous growth in domestic interest in exploring and learning more about Indigenous peoples," says Henry. "Not just from a visual or artistic learning, but understanding the evolution of the communities and the history that we've gone through as a country as part of reconciliation."

In Nunavut, Henry says ITAC has provided roughly $900,000 since 2021 to Travel Nunavut and local businesses, but the demand is still high.

"We're trying to continue to see a 2030 plan with 47 new businesses built by then and 1,000 new employees, hopefully Inuit employees promoting cultural adventure, cultural experiences; sharing Inuit culture, so long as the community wants to be supporting of it," he said. "There's a lot of work yet to be done in Nunavut, but it's going to take many partners to bring that together."