Sunny weather has helped to boost traffic for ferries serving Vancouver Island.
The uptick is particularly welcome because passenger counts had been down for much of the year.
At B.C. Ferries, August passenger traffic is up about three per cent compared with the same month last year, said spokeswoman Deborah Marshall.
"For the month of July, our traffic was down a bit, but it has come back in August," she said. "We were predicting traffic to be flat."
Marshall said consistently good weather has helped attract more passengers.
"We were down in the first quarter of this year [by] 1.7 per cent in vehicle traffic and 2.4 per cent in passenger traffic," she said.
Because passenger traffic has been sliding, B.C.
Ferries plans to save $4 million over four years by cutting 98 round trips on major ferry routes. Smaller unprofitable routes might also face cuts, but public consultation on the Gulf Islands will take place before any cuts are made.
Other ferry services are also seeing improved business after a sluggish spring and early summer.
Clipper Vacations president Darrell Bryan said its passenger numbers dropped by as much as eight per cent in the spring.
"In the last four or five weeks, we've offset the negative effects of spring," he said, attributing the boost to improving weather.
Sales have shifted so much that Bryan is projecting numbers better than last year's by the Labour Day weekend.
"Last year was the best year we've had in three years," he said. "But I'd like to get back to the levels of 2007, 2008."
Bryan said Clipper Vacations has enjoyed a massive increase in advance bookings from August to Sept.
25. "[They] are up 10.2 per cent," he said, adding that good marketing and the run of hot weather might be behind the jump in sales.
He said Clipper Vacations has cornered a niche as more Americans opt to stay close to home for vacations. "It's one of the things that happens during a U.S. presidential election," he said.
At the same time, more Canadians are travelling to Seattle to shop because of the strong Canadian dollar, he said. Bryan has seen a spike in the number of Seattle hotel rooms booked through his company in the last three months.
Ray Deardorf, planning director for Washington State Ferries, said once numbers are crunched they will likely show slightly better ridership for this August compared with the same month last year.
He said passenger numbers were down in June because of cold weather.
"We also had some rainy, cloudy spells in July. Ridership was down slightly from last year," he said.
Meanwhile, Harbour Air executive vice-president Randy Wright said bad weather in January affected flights and low passenger numbers continued into the spring.
"When the [nice] weather broke out [in late July], the tourists arrived," he said. "We're on target."
Wright said he's hoping for a longer summer. "Only Mother Nature can call this," he said. cclancy@timescolonist.com
