More than 8,800 cruise passengers disembarked yesterday in the port of Santa Cruz, as shops and restaurants were full all day, coinciding with the start of the New Year sales. Undoubtedly this is a major economic boost for the city as the number of cruise ships and passengers visiting the islands returns to pre-pandemic levels.
The Ports of Tenerife have confirmed that there are more than 40 stopovers scheduled for the month of January, and yesterday four spectacular ships visited the capital, Marella Explorer, Arvia, Aurora, and Bolette, from which a total of 8,882 cruise passengers disembarked.
The president of the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Carlos González, said that although cruise passenger traffic "has not fully recovered, as the shipping companies are still increasing the passenger capacity of their ships at different paces, events like yesterday show that an important part of the island's tourism is directly linked to its port”, reminding that in 2022, over 530,000 cruise passengers passed through the port of Santa Cruz.
The mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez, said that these figures, both those of yesterday's visitors and the forecasts, point to the "growing attraction of Santa Cruz for tourists", and urged shops and restaurants, to make the most of this opportunity. “There are 20 specific days when passengers from three or more cruise ships will descend on the city, and up to 36 where the arrival of 5,000 tourists aboard cruise ships is expected.”
Over the Christmas period, cruise passengers have been a notable benefit for businesses and the tourist image of the island.
THE SHIPS THAT VISITED YESTERDAY:
Regarding the ships that visited Santa Cruz yesterday, the Marella Explorer arrived with 1,880 passengers from the port of La Luz in Gran Canaria. This ship, with the Maltese flag and 263 meters in length, set sail last night for Lanzarote.
There was also the 344 meters long Arvia cruise ship, which is based in Southampton and has a UK flag, which departed after its visit to Philipsburg in St Maarten (Caribbean) with 4,400 cruise passengers on board.
The Bolette cruise ship arrived from Gran Canaria. She left the capital of Tenerife with 824 passengers for San Sebastián de La Gomera. And the last of the cruise ships, the Aurora, which is 270 meters in length and has the Bermuda flag, had sailed from Southampton with 1,778 people on board, also set sail yesterday afternoon bound for Mindelo in Cape Verde.
SCHEDULED STOPOVERS THIS YEAR:
Puertos de Tenerife has 573 scheduled calls at its ports this year, of which 313 will be in Santa Cruz.
In the first four months of this year, 158 cruise ships are expected, with a capacity of 394,044 passengers and it is estimated that the direct expenditure of the 275,831 tourists will be over 14 million euros. To do this, the Santa Cruz City Council has launched a daily free tourist route so that cruise passengers get to know the city in just a few hours.
Likewise, it is worth noting that there will be a large tourist influx next Friday (January 27th), with the arrival of another five cruise ships in the capital: the Azura, the AIDAbella, the Mein Schiff, the Borealis, and La Belle des Oceans.
