The Port of Barcelona will intensify its work with cruise lines in the coming days to resume operations in the coming weeks, now that the Catalan Civil Protection Agency (Procicat) has approved the Sectoral Plan for Cruise Activity in Catalan Ports. This plan incorporates the health protocols that cruise ships calling at Catalan ports will have to follow. Procicat's authorization of the protocols, which the Port of Barcelona and the cruise lines have been developing in recent months, marks the beginning of the countdown to the return of cruises to the Port of Barcelona this summer.
The return of cruise operations “will be carried out in a completely safe manner. We have been working with the cruise lines for many months to be able to offer the public a safe return to cruises, complying with strict health protocols designed by specialized international professionals. These protocols are not only designed for the passengers and crews of the ships, but also aim to effectively protect the residents of the destinations,” added Mercè Conesa, president of the Port of Barcelona.
The halt in cruises since the beginning of the state of emergency in mid-March 2020 has allowed us not only to work on the post-pandemic return, but also to evaluate the externalities of this activity in the destination cities and work on minimizing them, in order to achieve a more sustainable cruise tourism, both environmentally, economically and socially.
Despite the approval of the health protocols, it is still too early to set a specific start date for operations. Cruise ships need several weeks' notice to be in optimal operating condition, both to reposition the ships in the ports of departure and to prepare the ship and crew. However, the authorization received now allows both Catalan ports and cruise lines to work with clear return-to-sales goals. For the time being, only coastal cruises are possible because authorization from the Spanish Ministry of Health (the Spanish government) is still pending to operate international cruises from the Port of Barcelona.
“After months of waiting, we consider the approval of the health protocols by Procicat excellent news for the cruise industry, the city of Barcelona, and Catalonia. I want to reiterate that the current economic situation of many families in our country is truly precarious, and that the gradual reactivation of the various economic sectors, as the severity of the pandemic decreases, is not only necessary but key to recovering lost jobs,” concludes Mercè Conesa, President of the Port of Barcelona.
The cruise industry directly employs over 9,000 people in Barcelona. Its annual revenue in Catalonia is €1.083 billion, and it contributes €562 million to the Catalan GDP.
