The port of Palamós opened the cruise season yesterday with the arrival, early in the morning, of the Marella Discovery 2. There were 1,900 passengers on board, mostly British. Most took advantage of the stopover to visit Pals and Peratallada; others preferred to hike along the Ronda path, and there were still some who went as far as Tossa de Mar. In the middle of the afternoon, the ship set sail for Palma. This is the first of the 50 cruise ships that are scheduled to dock at this port this season. The port of Tarragona expects 55 in a season already very similar to that of 2019, in which records were broken.
A far cry from the figures of Barcelona, ​​which closed last year with 1.6 million cruise passengers (68.5% of what it had in 2019, before the pandemic), Palamós expects 50,000 passengers throughout the season ( until mid-December), and Tarragona, 98,000. These two ports have established themselves as alternatives for cruise passengers who travel the Mediterranean but have already visited Barcelona. To this circuit, and with smaller ships, the port of Roses is also added, which will start its season on April 27 and expects about a thousand cruise passengers spread over six stops.
The estimated economic impact of the activity of these cruises on the Costa Brava is five million, as reported yesterday by the Department of Territory based on a study by the International Association of Cruise Lines (CLIA). This report calculates that each passenger disembarking at a port of call spends an average of 90 euros. The ports of Palamós and Roses receive cruises from the North American and European markets in equal parts and this year nine of the scheduled cruises will call at the Costa Brava for the first time. The figures expected at the port of Palamós mean 13% more passengers and 11% fewer calls compared to last year. 62% of the cruises will arrive during the low season, and 38% during the summer.
In Tarragona, the season started on Thursday with the Silver Moon luxury cruise, from the Miami Royal Caribbean group, which until now had never called in the city. Coming from Palma, this ship, 213 meters long and built in 2020, has capacity for 596 passengers and a program of activities that revolves around the culinary culture of each destination where it stops.
Until mid-December, the port of Tarragona anticipates the arrival of 55 cruise ships and, with them, 98,000 visitors, a figure very similar to that before the pandemic, when 100,000 cruise passengers were reached. The explosion of this activity in an eminently industrial and oil port like that of Tarragona took place in 2017, when the arrival of this type of ship doubled: it went from 20 cruises in 2016 to 40 that year year. After the impact of the pandemic, activity began to recover in 2021 with just five stops. This port is now building a new cruise terminal that is expected to be operational from next season, during 2024.
