Ports in Spain enjoyed a 9.66% increase in the number of cruise passengers in 2018 and the total figure reached 10.18 million, the Ministry of Public Works and Transport said in a statement.
The cruise industry employs about 31,200 people in the country and it generated €1.48 billion in revenue, the ministry said. More than 3.0 million passengers used a Spanish port on a turnaround, while 90.8% of cruise all passengers used ports in the Mediterranean coast or the Canary islands.
“These data place some Spanish ports, such as Barcelona or the Balearic Islands, as leaders of European rankings, and they even hold strong positions in the global context. In addition, they make Spain the second most visited country in the European continent, second only to Italy,” the ministry said.
“The ports of the Mediterranean Façade (Alicante, Almería, Balearic Islands, Barcelona, Cartagena, Castellón, Ceuta, Malaga, Melilla, Motril, Tarragona and Valencia) concentrated the bulk of cruise passengers 6,888,298 passengers (67.7%), this is the area that has grown the most (+11.35%) and where the most important ports in the country are located, Barcelona with more than 3 million cruise passengers, and the Balearic Islands with 2.4 million,” the ministry pointed out.
The year 2019 has begun with very promising figures for Spanish ports since the 579,572 passengers counted in the month of January have entailed an increase of 8.7% compared to the same month last year.
