Fort Lauderdale (USA), Mar 29 (EFE).- Entities from Spain and Latin America highlighted their tourism offer at Seatrade Cruise Global, the largest annual event in the sector that is being held this week in Fort Lauderdale, in South Florida (USA). and where the full recovery that shipping companies are experiencing after the crisis of the covid-19 pandemic has been highlighted.
The International Cruise Association (CLIA, for its acronym in English) reported during this event that between 27 and 33 million people in the world will take a cruise this year, a scenario that the port of Barcelona hopes to take advantage of to “recover the 60% ratio of cruise passengers from the base port”, as its president, Lluis Salvadó, told EFE.
The head of the Port of Barcelona highlighted that this year 58% of travelers are expected to begin or end their journey in the Catalan capital and this terminal is expected to receive a total of 800 calls, a similar number to the previous year.
INTEREST IN CRUISES INCREASES
According to CLIA data, interest in traveling on a cruise is greater than before covid-19, with 85% of travelers indicating that they would repeat this vacation experience, a higher percentage than in 2019.
The head of the Department of Corporate Events of State Ports of Spain, Angustias Lerín, told EFE today that the entity’s presence in Florida responds to the objective of consolidating the European country as the main cruise destination on the Old Continent.
“For this we have modern infrastructures,” he said about a commercial mission of the institution in which he accompanies Spanish companies that offer all kinds of services to cruise companies, known as consignee companies.
The president of the Seville Port Authority and of Suncruise – an association made up of all the Ports of Andalusia -, Rafael Carmona, told EFE that the objective is to position this autonomous Spanish community as “an attractive cruise destination in the world”.
“We want to gain stops in Andalusia and that our cities become base ports that serve as a starting point for cruises,” he said.
Carmona said that another of the goals is for Andalusia to have lines that make cruises along the coast of the region, as is currently done in the Mediterranean, the Greek islands or in the fjords in Scandinavia.
CRUISES ASK FOR NEW THINGS
The president of the Port of La Coruña, Martín Fernández Prado, told EFE that the cruise companies ask for new things and that this Galician infrastructure has all the means to respond.
“In addition, the ports of northern Spain such as ours in La Coruña offer a great comparative advantage in the form of gastronomy and landscapes,” he said.
The Latin American representation in this edition of the Seatrade Cruise Global was also highlighted, such as that of Argentina through the director of Administration of the port of Ushuaia, Adrián Collado, who told EFE that they want to consolidate the cruise ships that currently arrive in this southern city. southern Patagonia.
“The goal now is to exceed 800 cruise stops in Ushuaia,” he said.
Another of the Latin American countries present at the Seatrade Cruise Global was Chile, through the mayor of Valparaíso, Jorge Sharp, who told EFE that he is trying to boost the image of his city, in addition to highlighting that they are working so that the town has the future of a dock specifically for cruise ships.
The cruise coordinator of the Guatemalan Ministry of Tourism, Melissa Smith, told EFE that her country has a distinctive offer in the cruise sector “based on culture”, with high-value Mayan heritage monuments that are of great interest for cruisers.
After a welcome day on Monday, the Seatrade Cruise Global got off to a full start on Tuesday with a schedule that will run through Thursday, including a series of forums and workshops on the industry’s development situation and prospects.
With an expected 10,000 attendees, the event is held at the Broward County Convention Center, 25 miles away. north of Miami, which also houses a fair that brings together cruise companies, as well as tour operators and public institutions that operate in the sector.
