New plan to attract major cruise lines with lower fees

Madrid/Palma.—Spain is looking to attract the world’s largest cruise lines by offering lower fees for arriving ships and passengers and making investments to link ports to the country’s major cities.
The president of the State Port Authority, Jose Llorca, unveiled Spain’s new strategy this week at the Cruise Shipping Miami, the industry’s most important gathering.
“We’ve lowered the ship fees by five percent, the passenger fees by another five percent, and also the fees levied on cruise terminals by 8.5 percent,” Jose Llorca said, defending the need to “make the Spanish market more competitive and attractive to cruise lines.”