The number of cruise ship visitors to Pond Inlet has grown exponentially since 2022, while many fewer are coming to Iqaluit, according to newly released Statistics Canada figures.
There were 4,222 cruise ship passengers who came to to Pond Inlet in 2025, up from just 466 in 2022.
While 2023 marked the biggest year for growth as tourism rebounded following the Covid-19 pandemic, 2024 and 2025 saw significant increases in tourism as well.
Most cruise ship passengers went into town when docked at Pond Inlet according to the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators, which said 83 per cent of passengers disembarked last year.
The beauty of the community is a big draw, said Steve Freamo, community safety liaison at the Hamlet of Pond Inlet.
“I think the word travelled very quickly that Pond Inlet was nicknamed the jewel in North, so the beautiful scenery and the culture and the surroundings has kind of drawn interest to Pond Inlet,” Freamo said.
The community is at the mouth of the Northwest Passage, and cruise ships travelling west from Greenland or going north to the High Arctic often make stops.
The hamlet charges a fee of $150 per passenger, which is used to hire local performers, made up of a group called Atti Tourism, and to support seasonal tourism employment, Freamo explained.
Using Statistics Canada’s figures, that would put last year’s fees at $633,300 for Pond Inlet.
Every ship is required to get prior authorization from the hamlet before docking, which is decided upon by the mayor and council.
Visitors are staggered into the community of 1,500 people in shifts, and come in on Zodiacs and dinghies.
Welcoming even more cruise ship visitors is one of the hamlet’s goals, Freamo said, and getting more infrastructure would help that. A deep-sea port and a bigger airport would allow for increased tourism, he contended.
“With cruise ships, if there’s a big enough airport, (visitors) can actually just fly out of the community, or they can even fly into the community and land and then start their cruise ship here,” Freamo suggested.
Pond Inlet is typically the first Canadian destination on cruises to Nunavut, according to Troels Jacobsen, field operations manager at the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators.
While the association only has figures for its member cruise ships, Jacobsen said they counted 3,615 passengers on board vessels reaching Pond Inlet in 2025, and 3,519 in 2019.
Statistics Canada only has figures for Pond Inlet going back to 2022.
“Cruise ships entering Canada must be cleared at their first port of arrival at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). Although Pond Inlet is not one of the designated ports in Canada where routine cruise clearance is provided, CBSA officers are routinely stationed there during the season. Therefore it can be easier for operators to go through Pond Inlet,” Jacobsen said.
Iqaluit visits more murky
Statistics Canada counts fewer visitors than the Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators coming to Iqaluit in 2025.
While Statistics Canada could logically count more visitors than the industry organization because some cruise ships aren’t association members, counting fewer visitors is more puzzling.
Statistics Canada data indicates 725 cruise ship visitors came to Iqaluit in 2025 and 4,402 in 2019.
The Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators counted 1,177 visitors disembarking in Iqaluit in 2025 and 1,166 aboard ships to the territorial capital 2019.
That leaves 452 visitors unaccounted for in Iqaluit by Statistics Canada in 2025, while the difference of 3,236 visitors from 2019 could have resulted from non-industry association cruises that didn’t return.
While neither group could account for the disparity, both organizations said that federal authorities counting visitors at the port of first arrival was a factor.
More Americans, fewer global travellers
The background of visitors to Pond Inlet and Iqaluit has changed remarkably as well.
There were 2,360 U.S. cruise ship visitors to the two communities in 2025, up from 991 in 2019, Statistics Canada data shows.
Jacobsen said one cruise line with mostly American guests visited the Arctic for the first time in 2025.
At the same time, fewer non-Canadian and non-U.S. visitors came to Pond Inlet and Iqaluit.
In 2025, there were 1,843 non-Canadian and non-U.S. visitors to the two ports, compared to 2,732 in 2019.
Global travellers had rebounded in 2024, before falling again last year.
Overall, both Statistics Canada and the Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators show an increase in visitors to the two ports.
Statistics Canada counted 4,947 visitors to the two ports in 2025, compared with 1,053 in 2022.
Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators said it recorded 4,879 passengers aboard vessels visiting those ports in 2025, and 4,685 visitors in 2019.
The industry association said its vessels have an average of 207 passengers on board.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Arctic Canadian community plans $100 tax per passenger for cruise ships this season, CBC News
United States: Cruise ship-free Saturdays would ease tourism burden, say some in Juneau, Alaska, The Associated Press
Finland: How not to promote Arctic tourism, Eye on the Arctic
Russia: Russia wants to boost tourism to Arctic archipelago, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: Summer tourism recovery is slow going in Sweden, Yle News