Are there more cruise ships in Palma than the three that can now dock in the city? There is no clear answer to the question, but it is what Marga Prohens’ government wants to study after its victory in the regional elections on May 28. Palma is, along with Dubrovnik, the only city in the Mediterranean that has limited the docking of cruise ships. The previous left-wing government, chaired by Francina Armengol, reached an agreement with the shipping companies so that there can only be three cruises a day in the Balearic capital and that only one of them is a mega-cruiser with more than 10,000 passengers.
The regulation will remain in place throughout 2024 because the companies already have their schedules closed, but from this date the possibility opens for more ships to call. Prohens plans to meet with the shipping companies in September to analyze the situation from the premise of a defense of cruise tourism due to its impact on commerce, restaurants and other sectors, according to the electoral program of the PP.
This intention is the one that can leave aside the current limitation, although a spokesperson for the president specifies that the intention is to establish a regulation to prevent the port from collapsing during certain days of the year while not on others there are boats The PP program talks about managing the flows of boats and visitors for a staggered arrival at the ports of the islands “in favor of de-seasonalization and to avoid a feeling of saturation for the residents”.
This means that there will be regulation, but not necessarily of only three cruises, but there is the possibility that the number will increase, which is what the association of small traders in Palma is asking for. Employers want more ships to be allowed on the same day, and this is what they have asked the Government these days.
The simultaneous arrival of cruise ships in Palma collapses the surroundings of the cathedral and the center, in an axis of half a dozen streets in which it is difficult to move when there are three ships docked. The new government’s announcements suggest that the number of cruise ships that can be there at the same time will increase.
The previous mayor, José Hila (PSOE), wanted to diversify throughout the city center the arrival points of coaches loaded with tourists coming from the boats, but the project failed because they all want to go to the cathedral as at the first stop and, from there, unfold in a fan along the commercial streets near Plaça de l’Ajuntament and Plaça Mayor.
The saturation of these routes, already somewhat common during the cruise season, has pushed several entities to create an anti-cruise platform, which includes entities such as the GOB, the main environmental association of the Balearic Islands, with 50 years of history . Its spokeswoman, Margalida Ramis, believes that three boats at once is an excessive number and somewhat unsustainable for the city, and fears that the number may increase under the new government.
There is no study on the carrying capacity of the city, but there have been others related to the pollution generated by these great colossuses moored in the bay. Another ecological platform, Iniciatives del Mediterrani, concluded that pollution is increasing in the neighborhoods closest to the port and in other parts of Palma, as indicated by the network of installed sensors.
Merchants claim that cruise tourism is very profitable, since each visitor leaves around 200 euros a day in the capital, which is questioned by experts such as Aleix Calveras, professor of Economics at the UIB, who in several articles pointed out that tourists barely spend because they don’t even spend a night in Palma.
