Eight business organisations called on the Balearic government this morning to scrap the curb on cruise ships after an 18 percent fall in passengers. "Don't demonise cruise ship passengers, it is family tourism with a high spending power," they said in a statement.
The previous Balearic government introduced new legislation which limited the number of cruise ships which could visit the port of Palma to three.
However the business organisations which include bar and restaurant associations, shopkeepers and tour guides claim that the curb has hit their takings with the number of cruise ship passengers coming ashore in Palma falling by 18 percent compared to 2019, the start of the Covid pandemic.
Palma is already one of the top cruise ship ports in the Mediterranean attracting in excess of 2.5 million passengers per year, including some of the biggest cruise ships in the world.
The president of the Aviba travel agencies association, Pedro Fiol, argues that the regulation of Palma stopovers was made "without foundation". He questions the criteria used for setting the limit, insisting that the cruise lines are "the first to be interested in sustainability and the use of renewable energies".
In 2020, Palma was one of a number of ports that signed up to the Cruise 2030 Call for Action. Others include Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bergen, Cannes, Dubrovnik, Malaga, Marseille and Venice. This advocates the sustainable development of cruise tourism and the use of smaller cruise ships.