While Costa Rica has been waning as a Central America cruise destination in recent years, with the number of cruise calls falling from 345 in 2011-12 season to the current 190, Nicaragua is on the rise, rapidly. Alan Lam reports.
According to the Ministry of Tourism figures, during the first eight months of last year, 26,341 cruise passengers entered Nicaragua on 37 cruise ships, a 10.8% increase on 2012. This year, the increase will be phenomenal; the country is on course to record a 97.3% increase on the figure of 2013.
The Central America as a whole is expected to experience a 5.6% rise in cruise visitor number during 2014. Honduras, which received 1,132,057 cruise tourists last year, will continue to have the lion’s share on account of its more developed cruise tourism, followed by El Salvador, which received 539,211 passengers in 2013.
The region as a whole is expected to welcome over 2,900,000 cruise tourists by the end of the current year, of which Nicaragua will contribute about 55,000.
Though Nicaragua’s cruise statistics may be seen as having limited significance in the bigger picture, they nevertheless represent a growing trend in the region. This trend also supports the assertion that cruise tourists are constantly seeking out new destinations. Obviously the determining factor is the ship calls. Increasingly Nicaraguan ports are being included in the cruise line itinerary planning.
