Palma boasts the fifth European port that most attracts cruise passengers. In 2012, in particular, the traffic of cruises brought almost a million of tourists to Palma, all of them coming from great renowned touristic ships. More than four hundred of cruises stopped at the dock of this city.

This evidence claims the importance of this Balearic harbour, according to the data provided by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) in Europe. Specifically, the amount of passengers who docked at the port of Palma in 2012 was 984.758 people. Other ports like the Malaga harbour did not register such a high number of passengers.

Thus, Palma’s main competitors are Barcelona and Valencia. The former is the city that receives more cruise passengers in Europe with 2.4 million of tourists in 2012, whereas the latter registered an increase of 89% and a total amount of 480.000 tourists disembarked in Valencia.

Most of the people who landed in Palma de Mallorca did it due to Mediterranean travel packages as the vast majority include a layover in the city. Therefore, tourists spend a day minimum either to enjoy the must-visit cultural attractions, such as La Seu (the main cathedral) and l’Almudaina (formerly built as an Arabian fort), to spend a morning in Ca’n Pere Antoni beach, or to go shopping, since there are many department stores in the capital of Majorca. Some of the largest companies like Royal Caribbean have Palma de Mallorca on their cruise schedule since years and aking this data as a reference, one can realise that the cruise industry is growing year by year in spite of the crisis.

Related Links

MSC Cruises Palma de Mallorca