I’m not going by train, I’m not going by plane, I’m going on a cruise, the Argentine artist could sing Charly García and join the almost 5 million people who have chosen this type of modality to vacation in the first semester of 2023. The season ‘record’ for all tourism sectors it also reached cruise ships and in this way the numbers of passengers that passed through national ports exceeded the pre-pandemic figures by 5%. Are 4.94 million people those who have preferred ‘a floating city’ to travel in this half of the year, according to data from Puertos del Estado.
In June, the last month for which figures are available, the total traffic of regular passengers and cruise passengers exceeded 3.5 million, 19% more than in June 2019 and 65% more than last year. Of these, 2.4 million traveled on regular lines under the transport regime and others 1.02 million were cruise passengers87.1% the percentage of travelers on board compared to last year.
While in the first six months total passenger traffic in Spanish ports, including regular lines and cruise ships, stood at 15.6 million users (10.7 million regular lines and another 4.94 million cruises). This figure is 2.4% higher than in 2019 and 36.3% more than in 2022.
The modality of fashionable travel is frequently defined as an activity for ‘older adults’, those who celebrate their retirement on these giant ships where nothing is missing (swimming pools, bars, shops, recreational activities, spa etc.) in addition to the economic amount that there is. to pay for between 7 to 12 nights of maritime adventure.
According to the International Cruise Association (CLIA) the average age of the national cruise passenger is 43.6 years in front of the 48.3 years of the European tourist, so the first myth can be disproved. Although the second is not, since the destination most chosen by Spaniards by 84% is the Mediterranean and can be around approximately 1,400 euros per person. On average, Spanish cruise tourists spend 7.3 days on their cruise, a duration 1.2 days less than the European average (8.5 days), according to the same association.
It should be noted that this activity is an economic injection for the country and the cities where they usually end up in Spain. In fact, the country has two of the three cities that receive the most cruises per year from the Mediterranean: Barcelona and Palma. However, the tourist saturation that grows year after year begins to annoy the locals, added to the pollution caused by this type of activity.