"Blue Carpet", the Spain brand as a cruise destination, which gives access to a cultural, gastronomic, scenic and leisure offering with a difference.
 

Cruises are still committed to Spanish ports: historic record in 2015 with 8.4 million cruise goers

• The "Ports of Spain" stand, promoted by Puertos del Estado, will host 21 Spanish Port Authorities who will present their offering at the largest cruise fair in the world.

03-11-2016 (Spanish Ministry of Public Works and Transport). Cruise passenger traffic amounted to 8,435,966 cruise passengers in 2015, which was a 9.4% increase compared with last year. Barcelona, the Balearic Islands, Malaga and Valencia on the Mediterranean; the Bay of Cadiz, Vigo and A Coruña on the mainland's Atlantic coast; and the Canary Islands are the main areas of appeal for this type of tourism, being the focus for 96% of national cruise traffic. With these figures, Puertos del Estado will take part in the largest cruise fair in the world, Seatrade 2016, which will be held from 14 to 17 March in Fort Lauderdele (USA).

The institutional stand PORTS OF SPAIN, with the motto "Blue Carpet: Enter Spain on a blue carpet", will give a global image of Spain and will strengthen the cruise sector in our country from the point of view of improvement of port installations, and of the cultural and tourist offering. In 2013, Puertos del Estado launched the campaign that —using the concept that our ports are the gateway to our country— presents the Spain brand as a destination that allows the tourist to access a full cultural, gastronomic, scenic and leisure offering with a difference.

There will be 21 Spanish Port Authorities at the fair (A Coruña, Alicante, Almería, Bay of Algeciras, Bay of Cadiz, Balearic Islands, Barcelona, Bilbao, Cartagena, Ceuta, Ferrol, Huelva, Las Palmas, Malaga, Motril, S.C. Tenerife, Santander, Seville, Tarragona, Valencia, and Vigo) with the aim of consolidating the Spanish position on the cruise market. Likewise, important companies related to the business of cruises will be present at the Ports of Spain stand, such as Bergé, BC Agency, Eulen, Pérez y Cía and Tubbo.

CRUISE PASSENGER TRAFFIC 2015

The Seatrade Fair 2016, which is being held in the American city of Fort Lauderdele this year, is the most important in its sector, and brings together exhibitors (shippers, agents, suppliers, etc.) from all over the world, with 11,000 professionals and 825 exhibitors registered for this edition. Furthermore, during the fair, there will be a conference program with the participation of almost one hundred speakers from the cruise sector, who will report on strategic actions for developing the cruise market over coming years.

• SPANISH PORTS CORNER THE EUROPEAN CLASSIFICATION: 7 OF THE 40 MAIN PORTS

In an international context, Spanish ports are hugely relevant, having managed to position seven Spanish Port Authorities among the
40 main ports in Europe; it is the second European country after Italy, which is represented by 9 ports. Barcelona, one of the five main ports in the world for embarkation/disembarkation, is the undisputed leader, ahead of ports such as Civitavecchia or Venice.

CRUISE TRAFFIC IN THE MAIN PORTS

OF EUROPE 2013-2014

• 25,500 EMPLOYEES DEPEND ON THE CRUISE TOURISM SECTOR IN SPAIN

The latest report published by Europe's Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), "Contribution of Cruise Tourism to the Economies of Europe", 60 cruise companies operated in Europe in 2014, with 183 cruise ships with a capacity for 255,000 people. The total number of passengers embarking at European ports was 5.85 million, who visited one of the
250 European port cities. The economic impact is estimated at
40,200 million euros, the direct spending of the cruise lines, passengers and crews amounted to 16,600 million euros, and almost 350,000 jobs were generated.

This data, extrapolated to Spain, means that the volume of business generated amounted to 1,200 million euros, generating a total of
25,500 jobs. Spanish ports revenue from passenger taxes amounted to almost 20 million euros.