VALENCIA – Since the corona pandemic, shipping companies are looking to other ports. They are increasingly interested in Valencia instead of Barcelona as the home port for their cruise ships.
This was confirmed by Aurelio Martínez, president of the Port Authority of Valencia (APV). He said, “there are more and more requests to use Valencia as a home port”. The Valencian Port Authority has worked hard to create a specific tourism offer to promote the arrival of cruise ships.
Maximum passenger safety
In particular, “bubble” excursions have been set up in the city and surrounding areas to ensure maximum passenger safety. “Negotiations are underway with the government. However, everything is still in the air and depends on how the pandemic develops,” Martinez said.
Cruise ships home port
According to La Vanguardia newspaper, in 2019 the port of Valencia welcomed a total of 435,616 cruise passengers arriving in 203 ships. Although Valencia is gaining ground over Barcelona, the city as a cruise ship port is far from reaching Barcelona in terms of numbers.
Creates jobs
According to a study conducted by the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), cruise ship activity creates a total of 637 jobs in the Valencian capital (transport, hospitality, commerce, etc.), a figure far from the 9,000 jobs that that years were generated in Barcelona. Annual turnover here was €1,083million and the sector contributed €562million to the Catalan economy.
