CAPE MAY CO.- The Cape May County Department of Tourism has planned a lot of their marketing strategy around our friends to the north, targeting French Canadian tourism dollars.

Cape May County has that certain "je ne sais quois" that French Canadian tourists can't stay away from.

And year after year, they've been staying here, at Holly Shores Campground and Resort in Cape May. "They come and want a quality place to park their rig, or tent or fifth wheel. They want it clean, that's what we give them, concierge service. My husband is bi-lingual and our staff, we try to do everything in French and English," said Maggy Robinson, co-owner of Holly Shores Campground and Resort.

In fact, French Canadians make up 13 percent of Cape May County's tourism. And over the years, there's been a steady increase of French Canadian's making the roughly 8 hour trip in search of all that Cape May County has to offer. "We had a slump in the 90's, started to see a comeback in 2003 and then 2006 we saw a marked improvement and now we're seeing that it's probably one of the best years for Canadian marketing. Basically we see money trading on par and that makes it work for all of us," said Diane Wieland, Director of Cape May County Department of Tourism.

To better reach the growing number of French Canadian tourists, Cape May County Department of Tourism came up with a passport to savings, written entirely in French where businesses and places like Holly Shores offers steep discounts. "We're very pleased with the response that we've had with coupon I think customers absolutely enjoy it and its helped extend the stay and I think in this economy, I think it's a positive win-win for us and them, everyone gets added value," said Robinson.

And this year Morey's Piers partnered with area campgrounds for a special camper package and recently launched a French version of their website, because they say the beach, boardwalk and amusements translate well in any language. "Just makes sense, if they're going to travel all the way down here to visit us we ought to at least try to speak their language," explained Jack Morey, Executive Vice President of Morey's Piers.
Thousands of the coupon books have been distributed and businesses couldn't be happier with the added boost. Dave Robinson, co-owner of Holly Shores Campground and Resort said, "Be glad they're here because they really are helping the economy."