Málaga cruise ship arrivals steaming ahead

Cruise ships tied-up in the Port of Málaga.

Regularly featuring on the itineraries of the world’s most prestigious Transatlantic liners, data just published by Spain’s Puertos del Estado Port Authority reveals that in the first ten months of 2016, the number of cruise ship passengers arriving in the port of Málaga totalled 366,679 – an increase of 10.2% when compared to the same period in 2015 – a figure three times greater than the national average of 3.7%…

This puts the capital of the Costa del Sol in fifth place after Barcelona (2.4 million passengers and an increase of 8.7%); the Balearics (1.7 million, up 5.8%); Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (795,845 with a 10.7% decrease); and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (613,015 and down 2.5%).

Spain’s two other Port Authorities registering the highest number of cruise ship passengers – Cádiz and Valencia – placed sixth and seventh respectively, with 342,233, down 6.1%; and 337,166 almost unchanged with just 0.03% less.

Meanwhile, it has also just been reported in provincial daily newspaper Diario Sur that in 2017, cruise ships will be docking in Málaga on 296 different occasions with a forecast of 500,000 passengers visiting the city throughout the year. These figures equate respectively to very significant increases of 17% and 13% compared with 2016.