Thursday was one of the busiest days on the Sydney cruise ship schedule, with thousands of passengers and crew packing downtown streets and businesses.

Next summer, there will be a second cruise ship berth, and that’s creating optimism in the tourism sector.

Passengers onboard one of three cruise ships docked in Sydney on Thursday are ferried in on smaller vessels. It's not ideal, but it's the only way for the port to accommodate multiple ships. 

“It's just a bit of a pain in the neck having to wait, especially in the rain,” said passenger Howard Minton.“I would prefer to get off and be able to walk into the town.”

Fellow passenger Roger Hinz echoed that sentiment.

“When you have to come in on a tender, it takes a long time to get all these passengers on shore,” he said. “I like it so I can just go out the minute we dock.”

That will soon change. A second berth will be constructed at a cost of nearly twenty million dollars and for business people in the downtown, it's money well spent.

“Business from the cruise ships has been growing every year,” said business owner Bruce Meloney.“It's not just the retail part, it's all the buses that go out, all the people that work on the buses. Baddeck is busy, Louisbourg is busy, all of the tourist people.”

Thursday was one of the busiest with thousands of passengers and crew descending on Sydney.

It's something Port of Sydney cruise marketing manager Christina Lamey says people better get used to in time for next season.

“We will be able to actually berth, at the same time, two ships that would deliver the exact same number of passengers -- both at our docks -- which would mean a huge influx of people, possibly six, seven thousand people into the city on one day,” Lamey said.

Lamey says the second berth is expected to be completed by the fall of 2019.

“We're looking at a record-breaking year and record-breaking days and it's good news for our tourism operators,” Lamey said.

So, despite the weather outside on Thursday, the future is bright and busy on the Sydney waterfront.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kyle Moore.