Breaking the record set in the previous year, the Mexican State of Quintana Roo will end 2014 with a new peak in total cruise throughput of its two main ports. Alan Lam reports.
According to Ercé Barrón Barrera, Director General, Port Administration of Quintana Roo (La Administración Portuaria Integral de Quintana Roo), by the end of the year about 25% more cruise calls will be recorded for the current season, bringing in about 3.7 million passengers, as compared to that of 2013, making the state the number one cruise destination in the continent of America.
Last week alone, 40 ships called at Cozumel and Mahahual terminals, disgorging over 120,000 visitors.
A further 60 calls are expected for the remainder of the year; thus the 2014 total cruise call figure will reach 1,200. The estimated passenger spending ashore for the year is above $200 million.
With Pullmantur homeporting one of its ships at Cozumel in June, for 2015, Quintana Roo -Jewel of the Caribbean - expects an even higher number.
The state’s two main cruise ports, Mahahual and Cozumel, are popular with cruise tourists on account of their proximities to various famous archaeological sites.
