Eight cruise ships call at Palma's Port on the same day
Palma
03/05/2016
Eight cruise ships have happened to meet in Palma during their tour around the Mediterranean. We are talking about the Meinschiff 4 (coming from Ibiza), Aida Cara, Thomson Majesty, Costa Fascinosa, the Norwegian Jade, the Costa Diadema, Royal Clipper (coming from Ibiza and on its way to Mahon) and the MSC Fantasia.
This cruise ship meeting proves that the Balearic Islands are being consolidated as an essential destination for shipping companies thanks to the effort of the Balearic Islands' Port Authority (APB) and of the institutions of the islands to promote cruise tourism. According to the president of the APB, Joan Gual de Torrella, "we are happy to see that our effort to promote a specific tourist product that diversifies the Balearic tourist offer is finally rewarded. This record of number of cruise ships will not be repeated many more days, but it proves that this product has a promising future".
Palma's Port is working at full speed, but the operations are carried out normally, as the facilities have been adapted to receive cruise ships and their passengers.
Many of these passengers will visit Palma's historic centre, but others will make excursions around the rest of the island. Therefore, Gual de Torrella greatly appreciates the initiative of Palma's city council to distribute the cruise passengers to different areas of the city, which will help distribute the wealth they generate.
"Overcrowding may occur and we know this is a local issue. But it is a given situation in a specific neighbourhood of Palma which benefits the rest of the island. Cruise passengers not only visit the old town, they spread out around Palma and Majorca because they do excursions around the island. It would be a mistake to think that limiting tourists visiting the island would benefit us", Joan Gual said, after offering his services to the city council to solve this problem.
On the other hand, Afedeco’s Secretary General, Antonio Vilella, and the president of Pimeco, Bernat Coll, through their Twitter accounts, have warmly welcomed the arrival of cruise ships in Palma as evidence that this type of tourism is being consolidated for the benefit of the small and medium-sized enterprises.
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