Charlottetown cruise visits on pace for record-breaking season: port

Charlottetown’s cruise ship season is off to a recordbreaking start, says the city’s port corporation.

Three months into this year’s season, Port Charlottetown is reporting that 36,000 passengers and crew have come ashore.

The port says passenger counts are up 42 per cent and crew counts 16 per cent, translating to around $10 million in direct and indirect economic impact for the province.

“We are very pleased with our year-to-date numbers,” said Port Charlottetown CEO Les Parsons. “In our slower time of year for cruise, we are already generating over $3 million in economic impact per month, and this doesn’t include the aggregate or petroleum side of port business.”

Port Charlottetown expects the numbers to climb even higher over next three months. “Traditionally our busiest time of year is September and October,” said Corryn Clemence, business development manager at the port.

“With such strong spring numbers already reported, and our August numbers expecting to double last year’s, this will be our best season yet.”

The port expects the final count to be close to 156,000 passengers and crew, including the first-ever call of the Disney Magic on Oct. 24.

The port expects almost $40 million in direct and indirect economic impact by the end of the season.