Malaga Sees Steady Flow of Cruise Ships

Malaga Sees Steady Flow of Cruise Ships

Malaga has become a hub for cruise ships

Malaga has always been a mainstay on the itineraries of many of the most prestigious Transatlantic liners in the world. The latest data from the Puertos del Estado Port Authority in Spain shows that 366,679 cruise ship passengers entered the Malaga port in the first ten months of 2016; representing a 10.2% increase over this same period in 2015 and three times larger than the national average increase of 3.7%.

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

The other two port authorities in Spain that registered a record number of passengers on cruise ships – Cádiz and Valencia – came in sixth and seventh respectively; welcome 342,233 passengers (down 6.1%) and 337,166 (down just 0.03%).

The provincial daily newspaper Diario Sur is also reporting that Malaga will welcome cruise ships 296 different times in 2017, for a total of over 500,000 tourists expected to arrive throughout the year. This represents a very sizable increase of 17% and 13% over 2016.