Was it the recession or Tourism and Culture Minister Elaine Taylor's fault for the flagging number of tourists choosing the Yukon as their destination?

While Liberal Tourism critic Don Inverarity suggested Taylor is to blame, the tourism minister disagreed during question period in the legislature Tuesday.

"If the member opposite is asking me if I individually have responsibility over the global economic recession that this worldwide globe has been experiencing over the last couple of years, the answer is no,” said Taylor.

But Inverarity is not convinced the government is doing all it can to stimulate the industry.

"In the meantime, the minister spends about $10 million a year to fail at increasing tourism,” said Inverarity.

"In the eight years the Yukon Party has been responsible for tourism, they have spent more than $72 million of Yukon taxpayers' dollars with little to show for it.”

In 2009, nearly 17,000 fewer visitors came to the territory; a 5.7 per cent decline compared to 2008's visitation rate of 299,860.

A decline in the number of motorcoach tourists and foreign visitors contributed to last year's downturn but the good news is that Canadian travellers to the Yukon are on the increase.

Also impacting the Yukon's tourism sector is the number of cruise ships docking at Skagway, Alaska, a gateway destination to the territory.

In 2007, a record 940,000 cruise ship passengers visited Skagway, but that figure has also been waning in recent years. For 2010, the historic Alaskan port city is expecting just 673,000 "cruisers”, down 100,000 from last season.

"I don't know how much Whitehorse will be impacted but in the southern Yukon, from Carcross South, quite a few tours (from here) go there,” Buckwheat Donahue, director os Skagway Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the Star today.

"So their numbers will be affected as well, and the number of passengers that take the train to Carcross.”

And the Yukon's Tourism department offers a similar assessment in its outlook for 2010.

"Reduced cruise ship capacity into Alaskan ports of call, especially Skagway, are indeed expected to contribute to a decline in the number of same-day shore excursion visitors to the Yukon,” according to the department's 2009 year-end report.

In 2006, voters in Alaska supported a $50 head tax on each cruise ship passenger disembarking at a state port, but Donahue said the economy is what ultimately drives the number of visitors.

"The primary reason is the slowdown in the American economy,” he said.

Adding to the Yukon's tourism woes is the potential failure of Great River Journey Inc., a high-end tour company offering Yukon River excursions for between $5,500 US (four nights) and $6,500 US (five nights).

In February, the company's president and primary investor, George Asquith, told the Star that if it did not get a bailout of $1.2 million, the operation would fold.

Already, both the federal and territorial governments have contributed, via grants and loans, nearly $5 million toward the venture.

In terms of marketing dollars, the Yukon's Tourism department intends to spend $4.1 million for North America in 2010, and another $1.3 million will go to similar efforts in Asia and Europe.

The department's Tourism Cooperative Marketing Fund, which assists local operators with publicity, has been increased to $700,000 for this fiscal year.

Tourism fruits from the $2.3 million the Yukon government poured into promoting the territory at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver remain to be seen.

During the Games in Vancouver, more than 80,000 people visited the Northern House pavilion where the three territories were featured.