Andalusia will close 2017 with 763 cruise ship calls and an 11% increase compared to the previous year, according to the forecast released by the Minister of Tourism for the Regional Government of Andalusia, Francisco Javier Fernández. He commented that "the cruise sector is strategic due to its ability to reduce seasonality, and I predict that 2017 will also be a great year for this segment in the region," based on information received from the region's ports. This marks the second consecutive year that Andalusia has registered an increase in both the number of passengers and the number of cruise ships. The Port of Malaga maintains its leading position with 444,000 passengers, while the 385,000 cruise passengers who arrived at the Port of Cadiz represent the second-best year-end figure in the last ten years.
The Andalusian Regional Government is committed to boosting the cruise sector through new marketing and promotional tools and a unified offering from all Andalusian ports under the Andalucía Cruises brand. The Regional Minister emphasized that Andalusia boasts a highly differentiated and specialized offering compared to the rest of Spain, with significant competitive advantages. These include a constantly developing network of port infrastructure, its attractive climate, its diverse and contrasting landscapes, and the location of its ports next to historical centers of high cultural value.
The first strategic objective is the projection of the territorial unity that Andalusia offers "through its ports, structured in the same network and under the same brand, Andalusia Cruises, and its growth potential.".
The second of these objectives is to "provide marketing tools to ports and professionals in the sector to attract more cruise ships, for which the department has published a promotional video and a comprehensive commercial dossier in Spanish and English, and in different formats to adapt the content to digital and multimedia media, with technical information on each port and the tourist resources of each area.
The third objective highlighted by the councilor is to promote the cruise options that depart from, arrive in, or stop in Andalusia during their Mediterranean and Atlantic voyages to the end consumer. In this regard, Fernández asserted that Andalusia must position itself as “an attractive option in the minds of tourists planning their cruises for the upcoming 2018 season.”.
Regarding the tourist profile, the bulk of cruise demand (88%) in the Community is made up of the foreign market, although the domestic market grew in 2016. British (44%), German (10) and French (6.5%) are joined this year by Americans, who in 2016 reached the second position as an international market, with a share of 13.5%.
The average daily expenditure of cruise ship passengers in Andalusia was €40.60, €6.50 more than the previous year, with 69% of their spending primarily on dining and shopping. Furthermore, cruise passengers who visited Andalusia rated the destination 9.2 out of 10, one of the highest scores among tourists visiting the region.
The regional minister also noted that efforts are underway to establish Andalusian ports as cruise ship hubs, not just ports of call, a development already underway in Málaga and Cádiz. To this end, they are working with airlines to encourage their customers to include Andalusia in their travel itineraries as a starting point for cruise ship journeys.
