Cruise traffic is recovering to pre-Covid levels in the Ports of Las Palmas. The end of the 2022-23 official season is estimated at 1.3 million passengers and 644 port calls in Arrecife, Puerto del Rosario, and Las Palmas.
The sector's recovery is evident after 2022, a year that saw one million passengers, despite ongoing health restrictions on board ships. That year, the Port of Las Palmas was the leading port authority in Spain for cruise traffic, thanks to the Canary Islands' creation of a protocol to reactivate this traffic starting in late 2020, which served as a model for other European ports that had been closed to cruise passengers.
Of the three major cruise lines with homeported ships in Las Palmas, Aida Cruises and TUI Cruises concluded their peak season last week, and Marella Cruises (TUI UK) will do so next Monday. The end of the official (winter) season marks the beginning of the low (summer) season, with the arrival of ships in transit (not based in Las Palmas) gradually decreasing to the five scheduled calls in July (the actual end of the statistical season, which runs from July 1st to June 30th of the following year).
It is worth noting some new developments in the sector, such as the increase in port calls in the current 2022-23 season compared to 2018-19 (644 calls versus 560) with fewer passengers (1.3 million versus 1.4 million). This difference is due to the addition of new, smaller ships (such as those from Croisi Europe and Mystic Cruises) that attract the interest of market segments different from those typically found in the Canary Islands, and the entry of new cruise lines, such as P&O, which began operating this past season.
With this projection, the upcoming 2023-24 season is expected to have 670 stops and a higher number of passengers than the pre-Covid season.
Another new offering for the end of this season is the launch of a new product from Costa Cruises, with calls scheduled for May and June of this year. This new itinerary, based in Malaga, will target the Latin American market and will feature the 'Costa Fortuna' ship, combining the Mediterranean and the Canary Islands. The cruises will last 14 days, and passengers can embark in Malaga, as well as in Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
Finally, the off-season cruise months of 2023 will be used to begin construction of the new cruise passenger terminals in the ports of Arrecife, Puerto del Rosario, and Las Palmas, now that the buildings of the old Maritime Stations at the Santa Catalina dock (Port of Las Palmas) have been demolished. Global Ports Canary Islands won the tender for the construction and operation, under a public domain concession, of the public cruise passenger terminals in the ports of Las Palmas, Arrecife, and Puerto del Rosario.
