The Balearic Government met today with the Balearic Islands Port Authority (APB) and the CLIA cruise company employers' association, with the aim of establishing the mechanisms to carry out the agreement reached last month in Hamburg to regulate the arrival of cruise ships in Palma.
The Balearic government explained, the aim of the meeting was to "advance in the development of the agreement, which allows the islands to become the first national destination to achieve a commitment of this type", and which will be effective this year, when the port of Palma will receive 14.5 percent fewer cruise ships than in 2019.
They also pointed out that the agreement remains unchanged and that a series of technical meetings have been scheduled, which began today in Palma.
After the meeting, the director general of Tourism, Rosana Morillo, stressed the APB's cooperation in implementing the appropriate procedures to respond to the needs of the destination in terms of cruise activities in the port of Palma.
The agreement, reached in December in Germany, means that this year only a total of three cruise ships will arrive in Palma on the same day, and only one of them may have a capacity of more than 5,000 passengers, except for 20 days in 2022.
In other words, this year only one mega-cruise ship and two other smaller ships will be allowed to be moored in Palma on the same day, "which will mean an effective reduction in the number of stopovers, which will also be reflected in the number of visitors", the Government said.
This is agreement is due to last for the next five years, and although most of the reservations in the port of Palma for 2022 have already been requested and granted, both the Government and the shipping companies have also agreed, for this year, to allow for a series of expections which will be less than 20 days, thus respecting the already signed contracts.
That said, only a maximum of four ships will be able to dock on these days. In addition, it states that in 2023 there will no longer be exceptions to the new rule, so that the maximum number of cruise ships per day agreed will not be exceeded.
At the same time, the agreement states that under no circumstances may the number of cruise passengers per day exceed 8,500 in Palma, so arrivals must always be less than this amount.