Ibiza's cruise tourism sector is coordinated to cope with the season
Eivissa
10/05/2017
The Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB from the Spanish) and the Consell Insular d'Eivissa organised this morning at the headquarters of the Consell a meeting coordinating activities related to the cruise sector in order to prepare for this high season.
All agents who are directly or indirectly related to the cruise sector in Ibiza, such as shipping agents, the Harbour Master, tour agencies, tour guides, carriers, traders, and security bodies such as the National Police and the Civil Guard, among other agents, were invited to attend.
This coordination instrument aims to enable public administrations and companies to exchange information and points of view on aspects that require coordination and that affect the sector's sustainability while respecting the island's unique qualities.
The President of the Consell, Vicent Torres, has considered this meeting to be important for Ibiza, because "it also wants to be a reference destination within the cruise sector". Tur has recognised the APB's investment effort and that the coordination among the agents involved is indispensable to providing a good service and giving a good impression "to tourists we're very interested in as opinion leaders for our island".
Adapted infrastructure
On the other hand, APB's president, Joan Gual de Torrella, has remarked that the product offered by Ibiza for cruise ships is very much liked, and proof of that is that shipping companies look for longer stops to take advantage of Ibizan nights. For Gual, investments carried out to welcome this market respond to the fact that Ibizan society committed at the time to this new product as an alternative to the tourist offer.
According to Gual, the port of Ibiza's infrastructure is adapted to accommodate current cruise ship traffic, although he recognised that there are also some limits. "Docks are what they are", said Gual, who added that "perhaps there is already a ratio between the infrastructure’s capacity to receive more cruise ships and the territory's capacity to absorb them".
According to forecasts for this season, the port of Ibiza will receive 340,000 passengers in 2017, representing 35% growth over 2016 and 191 stopovers, 28% over last year.
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