Cruise lines will be making 14 visits to local ports this summer.
Pearl Mist and Victory II are returning to the area and Le Champlain is the newest addition added to the port which will expand tourism until mid-October.
Le Champlain is a French cruise line operator based in France.
“This is their first experience in the Great Lakes but we hope that they will like the feedback from customers and hopefully they will expand their schedule in 2020,” said economic development officer Vladimir Shehovtsov.
Shehovtosov mentioned that mostly French tourists will be arriving from this cruise line though they will be open to a diverse segment of Canadian and European Union tourists.
“We will likely need to employ the services of a French-speaking interpreter to have on hand,” Shehovtsov said. In addition to France, if Le Champlain is successful, the town will build on the success of the operator and aim to attract cruise line operators from Germany and the U.K.
Shehovtsov said that Parry Sound could see a three to five per cent increase of tourists this year because of these ships and is hoping to build on that growth in the future.