The president of the Port Authority spoke about cruise tourism in the Port of Cartagena in an interview on Onda Regional.
In a live interview broadcast on January 27th on Onda Regional, Antonio Sevilla discussed the success of the Seatrade Winter Cruising Forum, held last week in Cartagena. The forum was organized by the Port Authority and Seatrade, with the collaboration of the Murcia Region Tourism Institute and the Cartagena City Council. The President took the opportunity to thank ASEAM, Licor 43, the Cartagena Hospitality School, and the Naval Museum for their valuable contributions. The Naval Museum kindly provided a unique space—the Isaac Peral submarine room—where the gala dinner for all congress participants was held. He
also detailed the four intensive days of the forum, which included sightseeing tours of Cartagena and Murcia; roundtables on winter cruises, ports and destinations, and itinerary and excursion planning; and meetings between shipowners and interested companies.
Antonio Sevilla explained that the objective of this Forum was to promote cruise tourism in winter, focusing primarily on the Mediterranean. For this reason, it represented a unique opportunity for the Region of Murcia to present the world's leading cruise lines with a comprehensive overview of the facilities and tourist attractions that Cartagena and the rest of the Region offer as a year-round destination for cruise passengers. A clear indication of this is the positive feedback expressed by the cruise lines regarding the possibilities for excursions to different parts of the Region, highlighting its history, gastronomy, and climate.
According to its President, the Cartagena Port Authority has worked extensively in recent years to consolidate its cruise offerings, making a decisive commitment to improving its infrastructure and ensuring that its facilities are more competitive and passenger-friendly. Cartagena and the Region of Murcia are ideally positioned to solidify their standing in the sector, enabling them to compete with other major Mediterranean destinations.
During 2014, 109 cruise ship calls were recorded, carrying 138,000 passengers, marking a historic milestone for the Port of Cartagena. The importance of this type of tourism in the overall figures for the Region of Murcia is steadily increasing. Of the 805,658 tourists who visited the Region in 2014, 137,987 arrived on cruise ships at the Port of Cartagena, representing 17% of all tourists to the Region. These tourists are predominantly British (63%), followed by Americans and Canadians (20%), and Germans (9%).
Finally, Antonio Sevilla announced the forecast for 2015, which anticipates 102 calls with approximately 150,000 passengers. This year will see more than 15 days with double or triple cruise ship calls. New port calls will be added, including those of the Britannia, Anthem of the Seas, and Norwegian Epic. And, for the first time, The World, a cruise ship from ResidenSea, will be docked for three days in the Port of Cartagena.
