The main shipping companies in the world have turned to the Spanish market for this summer season. One of them, MSC, has scheduled even more calls in Spanish ports than before the pandemic to meet passenger demand, which has changed compared to other years. The war in Ukraine has changed the behavior of travelers: cruises through the Baltic countries, which before the Russian invasion included a stopover in St. Petersburg, have decreased considerably. Also cruises through Asia, where countries like China maintain strict restrictions due to covid. On the other hand, the demand for cruises in the Mediterranean and, specifically, in Spain, has increased.
Barcelona is also one of the ports where MSC's activity will grow the most, as detailed today by the group during the presentation of its summer offer in Spain. The company has scheduled 40% more stopovers in the city compared to 2019. In total, 191 stopovers with embarkation and disembarkation.
"We hope to reach 140,000 passengers in Spanish ports this 2022, 100,000 in Barcelona and 40,000 in the rest of the ports in which we operate," Fernando Pacheco, general director of MSC Cruises in Spain, detailed this Wednesday. With these figures they would be 20% above 2019 in terms of passengers.
The increase in activity coincides with the debate opened by the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, on the possible limitation of cruise ships in the Catalan capital due to their environmental impact and tourist pressure. The Government of the Generalitat and the Barcelona City Council have agreed to create a study table on tourist activity to assess the situation. In this sense, Pacheco has asked that the cruise companies be included in this dialogue table. "We will abide by the regulations of each place and we want to have a sustainable relationship with the cities in which we work; for this reason, it would be positive if we could provide information about our activity", she underlined.
The increase in the offer of MSC Cruises this summer is supported by the mobilization of a new ship, the MSC Bellissima, to the Western Mediterranean, with Valencia and Barcelona as base ports. The company has a total of more than 400 scales scheduled within its strategic plan for growth in Spanish ports.
Thus, with 6 ports of shipment, Spain is positioned as the second market with the largest number of ports of shipment for the company, only behind Italy. MSC Cruises has led the revival of the cruise industry since June 2020, when MSC Grandiosa became the first ship in Spain to go out into international waters after the pandemic.
The forecasts for this season, therefore, are optimistic. After the relaxation of the measures by the different governments after Easter, MSC Cruises has continued to notice an increase in the number of reservations made. In May, the number of reservations was 144% more than in the same period of 2019. "The recovery is going better than we expected, that is why we have mobilized one more ship in Spanish ports," said the general director of MSC Cruises.
