​Spanish ports present a varied tourist offering at the Seatrade Cruise Global to be held in Fort Lauderdale
 

New record: 8.7 million cruise passengers in 2016

• Spain is the second preferred destination for cruise passengers in Europe

10-03-2017 (Ministry of Public Works). Once again, Spanish ports have managed to certify the excellent position that our country occupies among the preferences of cruise passengers, and the magnificent offer that they represent to attract such a high number of tourists, which has resulted in them being included among the preferred destinations in the world for years. A new record was set again in 2016 with 8.7 million passengers, a 0.6% increase on the previous year, mainly driven by the good performance of Mediterranean destinations.

In particular, ports located in the Mediterranean attracted 68% of the total number of cruise passengers who arrived in Spain in 2016, and with 5.8 million passengers, it experienced an overall growth of 5% compared to 2015. The main destinations include the largest ports in Europe: Barcelona with 2.68 million, Balearic Islands 1.95 million, Malaga 444 thousand and Valencia 403 thousand passengers. Other Mediterranean destinations also experienced high growth, such as Cartagena (+24.5%) and Almeria (+65.8%).

Canary Island ports, with almost 2 million cruise passengers and a national market share of 22.9%, experienced a 9% decline.

The remaining Spanish ports located in the Atlantic, in fierce competition with Portuguese ports, lost 4.2% of their traffic, almost 30,000 passengers, with 723,256 cruise passengers and a total national share of 8.3%. However, some Cantabrian ports have achieved notable growth. Gijon doubled its total number of cruise passengers to 32,700, and Bilbao rose by 22.7%.

According to Port Authority forecasts, cruise traffic will continue to grow in the coming years by between 1.5 - 3%, and could exceed 9.5 million cruise passengers by 2020.

• LARGE SPANISH REPRESENTATION UNDER THE “BLUE CARPET” EMBLEM

About 40 companies, including Port Authorities and service and product providers, will meet at the "Ports of Spain" stand at the Seatrade Cruise Global fair to be held from March 13 to 16 in Fort Lauderdale (USA). The Spanish presence at the most important annual fair in the world dedicated to the world of cruises has been growing year after year to become one of the countries with the largest exhibition space, with more than 500 m2, in line with the offer and relevance that Spanish destinations have in the market for cruise tourism.

With a strong image and messages, and under the slogan "Blue Carpet: Step into Spain through world class ports”, the Puertos del Estado stand includes the Port Authorities of A Coruña, Alicante, Almeria, Bay of Gibraltar, Bay of Cadiz, Balearic Islands, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cartagena, Castellon, Ceuta, Ferrol, Huelva, Malaga, Motril, Seville, Tarragona, Valencia and Vigo. Las Palmas and S.C. Tenerife will be in a specific space called “Cruises Atlantic Islands”. Whilst the fair is being held, most of the attending Port Authorities will negotiate and close the visits and tours schedule with the shipping companies for the coming years.

In addition, 15 companies are participating, including Bergé, which managed the consignment of more than 700 cruise ships with more than 1 million passengers; Eulen, a provider of integrated services in ports and cruises; Transcoma and Hamilton Cruises, agencies for all types of passenger services; BC Agency, with a variety of proposals for cruise passengers to enjoy destinations, Quirónsalud, which is committed to developing maritime medicine; and Estaciones y Terminales Marítimas, a Spanish company specialized in the concession and operation of port terminals.

Suppliers such as Freixenet, Enate, Mahou-Cervezas Alhambra, Conservas Ana María, Inés Rosales, Ingapan and Solfrío, will also be present, all aiming to enter the selective cruise industry.

• SPAIN, IN THE EUROPEAN TOP 5

According to data provided by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA Europe), with 1.323 billion euros of direct economic contribution in 2015, Spain kept its position as the fourth European market that benefits the most from the cruise industry, up 9.5% on the previous year. Economic contribution has grown by 22.5% in Spain since 2008. Furthermore, the cruise industry generated a total of 28,576 jobs in Spain, which is 12.1% more than in 2014.

Spain is still the European country with the second highest number of passengers, according to data from 2015, behind only Italy. Specifically, 5.93 million cruise passengers made stopovers at Spanish ports. Spain also ranks as the second port of embarkation with 1.28 million passengers. A total of 466,000 Spaniards chose a cruise for their holidays in 2015, which represents a 3% growth on the previous year.

In relation to national ports, the Port of Barcelona is still ranked as the top port in Europe and 4th in the world, with 2.68 million passengers in 2016. Meanwhile, the Port of Palma de Mallorca takes third place with more than 1.72 million passengers. Las Palmas takes seventh position with 1.1 million passengers and Tenerife tenth with more than 884,000.