The 184-passenger Le Bougainville arrived at the MedCruise member port with 132 passengers onboard while the 2,828-passenger Costa Deliziosa came with 818 passengers and 856 crew members.
Minister for Business, Tourism and the Port in Gibraltar Vijay Daryanani participated in traditional plaque exchange ceremonies with Le Bougainville’s Capt. Giles Thomas and Costa Deliziosa Capt. Nicolantonio Palombella.
Both vessels left the port in the afternoon of April 12.
Gibraltar expecting 184 calls
Stated Daryanani, ‘I am absolutely thrilled to welcome these two cruise ships to Gibraltar. It is not often that we have two inaugurals on the same day. The cruising sector has taken a battering but we are now on our way to recovery. This year we have 184 calls booked, only 13 less than pre-pandemic in 2019.’
An ‘unprecedented’ marketing campaign and government support
The minister went on to add, ‘The government is committed to the cruising industry for Gibraltar and I hope to showcase what we have to offer during the year to all the most important cruise executives worldwide as I embark on an unprecedented marketing campaign for this sector.
‘I have had many reports of a busier Main Street and businesses doing better: this is what we all want.
'We have done a lot of hard work behind the scenes over the last two years and we will now start our more visible marketing with visits to the most important conferences in Miami, Southampton and Genoa over the next three months.'
