The Port of Tarragona has convened institutional and business representatives from the Cruise Institutional Committee to prepare for the return of cruise activity to the city of Tarragona and its surrounding area. The Cruise Institutional Committee has met every four months since its creation in 2012 to agree on an action plan and promote activities and other initiatives that will strengthen the city of Tarragona, the Camp de Tarragona region, and the Terres de l'Ebre region as a leading cruise tourism destination.
The meeting was attended by Josep M Cruset, president of the Port Authority of Tarragona; the mayor of Tarragona; the trade consul of the Tarragona City Council; as well as representatives from Tourism of the Vila-seca City Council, City Promotion of the Reus City Council, Tarragona Tourism Board, Costa Dorada Tourism Board, Tarragona Chamber of Commerce, PortAventura World, FEHT, Reus Airport, Tourism Department-Eurecat; the regional director of Western Med Global Ports; and Emre Sayin, CEO of Global Ports.
The recovery of cruise activity was the central theme of the meeting. This year's schedule anticipates 38 port calls, bringing approximately 58,200 cruise passengers in total. The port expects to receive cruise ships throughout the season, from April 15th to November 11th, but the majority of calls are concentrated in April, May, and October.
The novelty of the season is the confirmation of the participation of most of the companies that were already operating in 2019 and also the entry of important new shipping lines such as Royal Caribbean, MSC Cruises, CroisiEurope and Tradewind Voyages.
The Board was joined at this meeting by Global Ports Group in its capacity as the new concessionaire of the Moll de Baleares terminal for 12 years. Global Ports CEO Emre Sayin presented the company's project for the Port of Tarragona and asked that the company be considered "another member of the family," as they are in Tarragona to be involved in promoting the city and the region, not only as a cruise port, but also as a tourist destination.
Javier Rodríguez, the regional representative for Western Med at Global Ports, presented the company to the other members of the Institutional Cruise Roundtable. Among other information, Rodríguez explained that Global Ports operates 25 ports in 14 countries worldwide. In the case of Tarragona, the business plan presented by Global Ports anticipates an initial arrival of 100,000 cruise passengers, reaching 150,000 by the sixth year of the concession.
