Alaska booming in cruise and land travel this summer.

Port Metro Vancouver says “it’s all good news this year” on the cruise-ship front.

“This year, we’re seeing an increase of more than 20 per cent for the season from last year,” the port’s manager of business development, Carmen Ortega, said.

That is expected to translate into about 820,000 passengers on 236 sailings. Last season saw 667,000 passengers on 191 calls.

The province’s cruise industry has taken a couple of hits in the past decade. After the lull caused by 9-11, a lot of cruise ships began returning to North America, but many of them docked in Seattle.

Vancouver had its peak year in 2002 with a little over a million passengers, but lost some ground to the Port of Seattle after that. And the implementation of an Alaskan head tax of $46 in 2006 increased the cost for cruise lines, resulting in fewer ships to Alaska.

But the local cruise business is in recovery.

“Since 2010, it’s been growing back,” said Greg Wirtz, president, Northwest & Canada for the Cruise Line International Association. “From 2010 to 2013, it’s been on a very positive upward trajectory.”

Visitors fly in and out from Vancouver. “Typically, they’ll stay at a local hotel either before or after their cruise, they take tours and spend a lot more time and money in the city because it’s homeported,” Ortega said. Guests, if they’re staying in the city for a few nights, might splurge on a trip to see the Rocky Mountains.

The cruise lines buy locally for supplies — fuel, food, flowers and anything else they might need for the voyage north.

This adds up to a sizable chunk of money for the local economy. The cruise lines generated nearly 7,000 jobs and nearly $259 million in wages and salaries. Cruise lines, passengers and crew spent $790 million in 2012.

Passengers predominantly come from North America, most of those from the U.S. But the number of Canadians is growing, according to Ortega, and about five per cent are from overseas.

“Increasingly, you’re seeing people from other cultures embracing the cruise as a vacation alternative,” Cruise Line International’s Wirtz said.

Demographics are changing too, as cruise ships like the Disney Wonder target families.

“Other cruise lines would cater to families, but as an adjunct to the main demographics,” Wirtz said. “Family-oriented ships are introducing a whole new generation to cruising.”

Today’s cruisers are looking for options, Wirtz says. “Some want an active lifestyle vacation, they want to climb rock walls and go hiking. Other people want to focus on sightseeing. And soft adventure tours have become very important.”

Soft adventure activities are adventure activities “without having the hard physical component,” Wirtz said. “Instead of hiking you might take a helicopter tour or all-terrain vehicle for a glacier experience.”

“Alaska is a huge marquee destination. Making B.C. that same kind of marquee destination is a long-term project.”