13.8% rise in cruise travellers in Barcelona
The Catalan capital is the top destination in Spain for tourists travelling on cruises, accounting for more than a third of all passengers, according to official figures
Barcelona received 905,671 cruise-boat passengers during the first six months of the year, official data published this Thursday indicates. The figures confirm an increase of up to 13.88% in the number of people selecting Barcelona as a destination of choice on their cruise. The Catalan capital thus secures its reputation as the top city in Spain for cruises.
Overall, in the first semester of 2010, Spain received a total of 2.7 million cruise-boat passengers; an increase of 6.4% in comparison with last year. Barcelona is the top destination for cruises in the state, and received 33.54% of all cruise-boat visitors to Spain. The ports in the Balearic Islands are the second most visited cruise-boat destination, with 547,767 passengers visiting during the first semester, an increase of 21.6%, compared to 2009.
Including all maritime passengers, and not only those on cruises, Barcelona received 1,330,652 visitors. This situates the Catalan city fourth in the Spanish ranking of most busiest ports, behind Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, Majorca and Menorca, in the Balearic Islands, and Algeciras, the port in southern Spain that connects Spain with North Africa.