Costa Cruises Spain acknowledges the work carried out by the Port of Tarragona and the members of Tarragona Cruise Port Costa Daurada during the 2017 season

The chairman Josep Andreu and representatives of the institutional board of cruise ships accepted the award in a ceremony held yesterday on the Costa Daurada stand at FITUR

The Port of Tarragona and Tarragona Cruise Port Costa Daurada received a special recognition from Costa Cruises Spain for the work carried out during the 2017 season. The chairman of the Port, Josep Andreu; the Mayor of Tarragona, Josep Felix Ballesteros; the President of the Tarragona Municipal Tourism Council and Councillor for Tourism and the Strategic Plan of the City Council, Inmaculada Rodríguez; the councillor in charge of Tourism and Trade of Reus City Council, Montserrat Caelles; and the Technical Director of the Costa Daurada Tourism Council, Marta Farrero; were responsible for collecting the award in a ceremony that took place on the Costa Daurada stand at FITUR. The acknowledgment seeks to highlight the work and collaboration of the Port of Tarragona and Tarragona Cruise Port with Costa Cruises during the first season in which Tarragona has operated as a base port for the company with the ship neoRiviera.

Tarragona Cruise Port Costa Daurada is led by the Port of Tarragona, and is also made up of the Tarragona Municipal Tourism Council, the Costa Daurada Tourism Council, the Reus Municipal Tourism Council, the Chambers of Commerce of Reus and Tarragona, the Tarragona and PortAventura Hotel and Tourism Business Federation. The commitment to cruise ships began in 2013, when the institutional cruise ship board was set up with a basic function: to consolidate the Port of Tarragona as a cruise destination and to work together to promote the region.

The Port of Tarragona is present in FITUR for two days, Thursday and Friday, and has scheduled several meetings with tour operators and shipping companies.

The Port of Tarragona presents the best forecasts for the 2018 season

The 2018 season presents itself as a year of consolidation of the Port of Tarragona’s commitment to cruise ships. The forecasts for 2018 put the figures at 55 cruises, representing an increase of 49% over 2017, and 80,000 passengers, which would imply an increase of 56%.

It should be remembered that the Port achieved very good results last season, with figures that exceeded the expectations set, and broke a record with 51,390 cruise passengers, representing an increase of 284% over the 2016 season. With regard to the number of cruise ships, in 2017 37 vessels made a stopover in Tarragona, compared with 22 in 2016. These 51,000 plus passengers, of which 37,000 were in transit and 14,000 base port passengers, generated an economic impact of 3.9 million euros in the region.

Costa Cruceros's commitment to Tarragona

The excellent forecasts for 2018 are due, in large part, to the fact that the shipping company Costa Cruises, which has Tarragona as a base port, has decided to change the cruise ship this year, from the Costa NeoRiviera, with a capacity for some 1,700 passengers, to the Costa Victoria, which can accommodate some 2,300 passengers, which will mean a very significant increase in the number of passengers who will arrive in the Port of Tarragona.