According to figures just released by Spanish Port Authority, Puertos del Estado, in the first nine months of 2014 Spain received almost the same number of cruise tourists as that of the same period last year, while the number of cruise calls had fallen. Alan Lam reports.
Over 5.3 million cruise passengers passed through Spanish ports between January and September, representing an insignificant 0.02% increase, while the total number of cruise calls for this period was 2,539, a fall of 2.38%.
With a slight decrease of 0.3%, September was the sixth consecutive month of decline in cruise passenger numbers sustained by the country: there was a 1.4% drop in August, 14.5% in July, 6.5% in June and 3.8% in April; the biggest fall was in May when the deficit was 16%, compared to May 2013.
Barcelona, the busiest cruise port of the country, experienced a 10% fall in ship calls and 9.21% fall in passenger number. Valencia was the biggest casualty, registering a 22.6% drop in passenger number and 13.9% reduction in ship calls. Vigo experienced a 10% decreasein passenger number and 13.4% drop in calls.
There were, however, areas of significant growth: in the Canary Islands, cruise passenger number for Las Palma, for example, was up by 49%, with 19% more cruise calls; the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife received 4.3% more cruise passengers than in the same period last year. The Andalucian port of Motril registered a 29.8%increase in passenger number and 11% more cruise calls.
Despite these uninspiring numbers, the authorities are still confident that Spain is on course to break the record annual cruise passenger number of 8 million, set in 2011. A lot depends on the last three months of the year.
These figures suggest a serious underlining lack of dynamismin the sector in Spain. This could be due to the fundamental issue in the wider economy. At best, these erratic numbers reflect a changing pattern of cruise business flow.