A recent study by consultants Deloitte, commissioned by the European Commission, analysed the impact of cruise tourism in Europe and in Florida and Caribbean ports in 2019. It concludes that the Balearic ports are the most profitable in Europe because of this impact. In the year prior to the pandemic, Deloitte values this at 468.6 million euros.
This level of spending, of which 254 million were direct and the rest indirect through associated services, was far higher than that recorded by the ports of Bergen (72.3 million), Copenhagen (160.2 million), Hamburg (147.5 million), Lisbon (107.1 million), Marseille (268.8 million), Stockholm (179.5 million), Tallinn (130.4 million), Valletta (136 million), and Cork (40.2 million). The Balearic ports were only surpassed by those of Miami (885.3 million) and Saint Martin (577.9 million) in the Caribbean.
The director in Spain of the CLIA Cruise Lines International Association, Alfredo Serrano, says that the European Commission report updates information previously available regarding the economic impact of cruises in the Balearics. The most recent in the Balearics, a 2017 report by the Balearic Ports Authority, the Mallorca Chamber of Commerce and the University of the Balearic Islands, gave an estimate of 256.6 million.
Serrano adds: "We know that cruise tourists are people who are interested in culture, who visit Palma and other places on the islands, and who do so accompanied by tour guides. With an average spend of 213 euros per person, it is clear that this is a very profitable type of tourism for the Balearics. It demonstrates the type of tourist who travels on cruise ships, whose spending exceeds what was thought to date."