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NEW YORK - Some 600,000 passengers are expected to sail to Atlantic Canada this year, a 40 per cent increase over last year, according to the Atlantic Canada Tourism Partnership.

In previous years, there were only a couple of weeks of tours to Canada by major cruise lines as ships repositioned from their summer itineraries to winter destinations.

But now a number of lines -- including Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Holland America -- are making numerous trips August-October. Carnival's trips to Canada from the U.S. now run June-October.

Other lines offering cruises to the region include Princess, Silversea, Cunard, Celebrity and Crystal.

The additional sailings have led several Canadian ports to expect major increases in visitors -- 68,000 expected this year in Charlottetown, up from 21,000 in 2007; 80,000 expected this year in Sydney, N.S., up from 43,000; 215,000 in Halifax, up from 177,000; and 187,000 in Saint John, N.B., up from 134,000, according to statistics from the Atlantic Canada Tourism Partnership. Even Newfoundland and Labrador are seeing more port calls, although the ships tend to be smaller expedition vessels rather than large cruise ships.

Some of the cruises have last-minute rooms at moderate prices for travellers looking to get a visit to the region. A five-day Carnival cruise departing Sept. 1 from New York for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia still had rooms starting at under US$500 per person in mid-August.

For those who prefer to see autumn colour by land rather than sea, Globus tours offers a fall foliage trip by motorcoach that includes Quebec City and Montreal. Other itineraries stay south of the Canadian border in the New England states. The Globus fall foliage tours range from six to nine days, with packages beginning at $1,129. All trips start and end in Boston.

Itineraries on the Globus trips vary, but stops may include Portland, Maine; Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park in Maine; New Hampshire's White Mountains; the Berkshires in Massachusetts; and historic Newport, R.I. Other places on the list, depending on which tour is taken, include Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, a maple syrup farm in New Hampshire, and the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory tour in Vermont. Details at http://www.globusjourneys.com/.