The monthly evolution of cruise passenger traffic in Barcelona shows figures not only of recovery, but higher than those recorded in the record year, which was 2019. During the first four months of 2023, they have arrived on board these floating hotels 557,072 passengers, 4,133 more than during the first four months of the pre-pandemic year. The great passage was registered in April, with 264,371 cruise passengers, double those who arrived last year and 20,000 more than in 2019. The presence of these boats adds tourist activity to a spring full of concerts, events sports and congresses in the city.
The trend of growth in cruise activity, consolidated during the last two months, will continue until October, according to the forecasts of the Barcelona Tourism Observatory. So, during this month of June, 72 boats are scheduled to arrive in the city; during July and August, there will be more than 80, and in September and October there will be more than a hundred each month.
The calendar barely shows days without cruises. During this month there are only three days when no arrival is scheduled; in July and August, four days, and only two without these boats in September, October and November. This weekend, between Saturday and Sunday, there were eight. Seven arrived in the morning and set sail after a few hours, in the middle of the afternoon.
The Tourism Observatory calculates that by the end of the year nearly 830 cruise ships will have operated in the port, which places the city above the figures for 2022, which recorded a beginning of the year still at half throttle due to the restrictions on the pandemic, and also above the figures of 2019, the year in which the record number of 3,137,978 cruise passengers in Barcelona was reached for the first time.
The figures confirm that, despite the agreement reached five years ago between the City Council and the port, which meant reducing cruise terminals from nine to seven, activity has not decreased. This framework agreement of 2018 resulted in the closure of the Maremagnum terminal and the north terminal of the World Trade Center to concentrate activity at the Barcelona and Adossat docks, where this morning the Enchatment of the seas, the MSC Orchestra, Costa Maragda, Arvia and Viking Mars. These last two are the ones that will spend the most time in the port of Barcelona. The Arvia until Tuesday afternoon (scheduled to leave at 6 p.m.) and the Viking Mars until Wednesday afternoon, and will have been in the city for three days.
During the past year, the port accounted for a total of
2.3 million cruise passengers. Of the latter, one million made stopovers and 650,000 embarked and disembarked passengers in Barcelona. If the expected pace is maintained, this year the activity will be significantly higher.
