Nunavut community welcomes an upswing of cruise ship tourists after 2 years of quiet

It was a happy moment for Peter Avalak this summer as visitors stopping in by the boatload arrived in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

Avalak, who was born and raised in the hamlet and is a carver, has often led group tours there over the years.

“I look forward to this every year,” he said. “I’m proud to show off my community.”

In recent years, traffic into the community came pretty much to a stop. Pleasure craft and ocean liners were not allowed to navigate Arctic coastal waters in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

But this year, between the end of July and the