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A smashing Sunday for Marseille

A smashing Sunday for Marseille
The Port of Marseille set a one-day cruise record on Aug. 9 with seven ships and 21,000 passengers in transit or embarking/disembarking.

'This is the reward for the investments implemented by the port and the Marseille Provence Cruise Terminal in the last years,' said Jean-François Suhas, who succeeded long-time chief Jacques Truau as head of the Marseille Provence Cruise Club.

Six ships called at the Léon Gourret jetty and one at the Joliette terminal. They were Costa Diadema, Costa Magica, Zenith, Nieuw Amsterdam, Emerald Princess, Seabourn Sojourn and MSC Armonia.

Cruising is one of the bright lights for the Marseille-Provence economy.

'Cruise passengers are real ambassadors for our region, and these who call here in transit today will be our tourists tomorrow,' Suhas said. According to research, seven out of every 10 passengers say they plan to return.

In 2015, Marseille expects 1.5m cruise passengers, a 12% increase from 2014, and including 500,000 on turn-around calls. The French port will receive 465 calls and 68 ships belonging to 30 companies.