Five cruise lines have cut their Vancouver sailings for 2010 so far this year. (CBC)

Vancouver's tourism industry has been hit with another blow as Norwegian Cruise Lines announced it will steer one of its ships toward more profitable European waters in 2010.

The company said it will pull one of its three ships off the Vancouver-Alaska run next year because of a $50 per-passenger fee established by the state of Alaska.

Greg Wirtz, the manager of trade development with the Port of Vancouver, said the latest loss of a cruise line will cost the city's tourism industry some $38 million per year in lost revenue.

"The cruise terminal is going to get a little less busy in the short term," said Wirtz,

The cruise line is the fifth to cut its 2010 schedule out of Vancouver in recent months, after Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America, Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines all announced cuts to their Vancouver-Alaska schedules for 2010.

Estimates of the total losses for the tourism industry are in the hundreds of millions of dollars, but Wirtz remains hopeful the downturn will be temporary.

"In the years ahead we believe that this will change as the economy changes, and we'll be in a position to grow our business again with our existing cruise lines and maybe some new cruise lines…. But for now, that's a lot of hope," he said.