Palma.Cruise ship operations in the Balearics during the first half of this year have broken the all-time record set for the industry during the same period in 2010, the Balearic ports Authority (APB) confirmed yesterday, claiming that stop-offs have increased by 7 percent.
Between the start of January and the end of June this year, 282 cruise ships docked in the regional ports of Palma, Mahon, Ibiza and Formentera, surpassing all previous records.
Passengers coming with the cruise ships numbered over 554'000 during the first six months of the year, a 1 percent increase (4'200 tourists more) in comparison with those visiting during the same period in 2010.
Top international spot
According to predictions by the Balearic Ports Authority, cruise ship stop-offs in the Islands is going to supercede top figures registered last year by a further 4.5 percent.
By the time this year is over, said the APB, 549 stop-offs will have been made in Palma, Ibiza and Mahon, the most successful year to date.
The same forecasts show that 1.8 million visitors will have cruised into the Balearics by the end of 2011 in an industry which, said the APB, has grown by 25 percent within just one year.
With this spectacular development, the Balearics has become one of the most important cruising destinations in the world.
The Islands, said the APB, together with Barcelona, comprised 77 percent of business in the Mediterranean in 2010 and 54 percent of the industry in Spain as a whole.