LOCAL businesses, tourism stakeholders, family and friends joined Cruise Loch Lomond on Friday for the official launch of the MV Lomond Monarch.

The vessel completed the final leg of the epic journey to arrive at her new home at the beginning of July.

The vessel, acquired by Cruise Loch Lomond, started her journey in Loch Ness and has made her way through some of Scotland’s finest waterways to her new base on the western shore of Loch Lomond.

The last stretch of the journey involved overland transportation by local haulier Galt

Transport which saw the vessel travel from Dumbarton to Balloch before being lifted onto the loch by crane.

Weighing 50 tonnes, the vessel measures 16.5m long, 5.3m wide and 6m high and will carry up to 120 passengers when it launches its tour programme this summer.

The vessel was craned out of the River Leven at Sandpoint Marina and onto Galt’s specialist trailer with the journey overland beginning at dawn the next day.

Travelling through Bonhill, Jamestown and onwards to Balloch, the boat was lifted and lowered onto Loch Lomond by mobile crane when it arrived at the lochside.

Stuart Cordner, director, Cruise Loch Lomond stated: "We are delighted with the latest addition to the fleet offering increased capacity for travel trade and flexibility for private and corporate functions on board.

"The Company has experienced a marked increase in visitor numbers in the last

12 months both from the domestic and overseas visitor markets. This can be attributed to a number of factors such as favourable exchange rates; successful VisitScotland and SDI overseas marketing campaigns as well as an increase in flight connections to Scotland. "Coupled with private sector investment in the Tourism Sector to extend the product offering; innovative new collaborations with local businesses and successful destination marketing campaigns have all helped to make 2017 a positive year to date."