A meeting of Tarragona’s Institutional Cruise Committee – made up of institutions, administrations, companies and universities cooperating to develop a sustainable cruise model – took place earlier this month to discuss these plans.
2024 forecast
Tarragona expects to receive 58 calls and 122,000 passengers in 2024, including six inaugural calls. MSC Fantasia alone will make 28 calls, each on a Friday, from April 19-October 26.
The committee has been working on extending the cruise season, which is expected to continue into November.
Tarragona Cruise Port’s new terminal building will be inaugurated in May.
2023 summary
Tarragona’s 2023 season, which generated €15,257,000 for the city, involved 57 cruise calls and 115,209 passengers – a 79% passenger increase on 2022. The month with the highest volume of cruise passengers ever received by Tarragona was October, exceeding 24,000. One MSC Cruises itinerary led the destination to receive calls from the cruise line every Sunday from May-October.
Spanish (31%) was the main nationality recorded, followed by Italian (26%,) French (9%,) American (8%,) German (5%,) English (4%,) and other nationalities (17%.) The same survey revealing these statistics showed 81% of passengers chose to visit the region independently, 7% took organised excursions of the province of Tarragona, 4% opted for guided tours of the city and 4% decided to visit Barcelona.
Among the excursions most frequently requested by cruise passengers were tours of the city of Tarragona (51%,) Port Aventura (20%,) and Poblet and its surroundings (20%,) with the rest divided into visits to beaches, wineries and the town of Reus.
As for feedback on their experiences, 54% of cruise passengers said Tarragona exceeded their expectations, a higher figure than the 41.5% in 2022. In the opinion of the Institutional Cruise Committee, the data is ‘a sign of the successful work undertaken to date, surpassing assessments from previous years and showing the positive perception visitors have of the Tarragona region.’
MedCruise General Assembly
The 64th MedCruise General Assembly will take place in Tarragona from June 11 - 14, when the committee will present its attractions to the cruise community, including cruise lines, port agents, tourism boards and other relevant parties.
Institutional Cruise Committee
The Institutional Cruise Committee meeting on December 14 was held at the Leisure and Tourism Science and Technology Park of Catalonia in Vila-Seca, and attended by: Noemí Llauradó, president of the Tarragona Provincial Government and deputy mayor of Reus Town Council; Rubén Viñuales, mayor of Tarragona; Pere Segura, mayor of Vila-seca; Lluïsa Clavé, Vila-seca councillor for tourism; Laura Roigé, president of the Tarragona Chamber of Commerce; Alba Colet, marketing manager of Global Ports Holding in Tarragona; Xavier Jornet, president of the Tarragona Hospitality Business Association; Mònica Conesa, DMC & in-destination Port Aventura sales manager; Oscar Saladié, professor at the Rovira i Virgili University; Xavier Guardià, representative of the Business Federation of Hospitality and Tourism of Tarragona; Anna Martínez, deputy director general of tourism planning and inspection; Cristina Pedret, technical manager of Reus Town Council; Genoveva Climent, marketing and BDM, Tarragona Port Authority; Saül Garreta, president, Tarragona Port Authority.
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