The movement to control and cap cruise ships is going to be up in arms. Between January and July, Balearic ports handled 1.4 million cruise passengers, up 9.4% on the same period last year, according to data from Puertos del Estado, the state port authority. In July alone, the region received 354,643 cruise passengers (4.8%), while in terms of the number of cruise ships, 428 docked in the Balearics during the first seven months (+12%) and 84 in July alone.
In total, Spanish ports received 7.5 million cruise passengers between January and July, representing a 16.5% increase over the same period last year, while 2,796 ships docked during this period, i.e. 505 more (+22%). Including regular ferry services and cruises, total traffic stood at 22.9 million passengers, with 15.4 million on ferry services (+2.2%) and the aforementioned cruise passengers. This overall figure is 6.5% higher than that recorded in 2024.
In July, total passenger numbers reached 5.2 million. Of these, almost four million travelled on regular lines (-0.3%) and 1.3 million were cruise passengers (+11.7%). Meanwhile, 328 cruise ships docked in Spain in the seventh month, representing a 15% year-on-year increase. Of the 7.5 million cruise passengers who arrived at Spanish ports in the year to date, the majority did so at the port of Barcelona, with 2.1 million, up 12% compared to 2024. This was followed by the Balearics (1.4 million and +9.4%), Las Palmas (1.2 million and +23.8%) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (893,594 and +33.4%).
In July, the port of Barcelona repeated its leadership with 453,131 cruise passengers, a figure similar to the previous year, followed by the Balearics, with 354,643 (+%). In terms of the number of cruise ships, during the first seven months, most docked in Las Palmas (459 and +31%), Barcelona (463 and +16.3%), the Balearics (428 and +12%) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (402 and +34%).
On a monthly basis, 84 ships docked in the Balearics, while 79 docked in Barcelona, followed by the Bay of Cadiz, Valencia and Malaga, which received 28, 27 and 21 ships, respectively. On the other hand, only three arrived in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the seventh month, and two in Las Palmas.