MSC Cruises announced that Alicante has become such an important part of their network, they intend to increase the number of cruises sailing from the city between now and 2025, with the hope of increasing foreign passenger numbers.
The commitment to the capital of the Costa Blanca that materialised for the first time in July 2022, after having achieved a successful passage with an average of between 350 and 450 shipments, which has not been replicated in the company’s attempts to open up markets in other Spanish ports. For example, the experience launched this summer in the Port of Tarragona will not be repeated next year.
Of course, the objective of the shipping company of Italian-Swiss origin is to squeeze all the possibilities that the destination still offers, thanks to its good rail structuring with Madrid and with countries like the United Kingdom and Germany through the Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández airport, means the port of Alicante is perfectly suited to domestic and international passengers.
They are particularly keen to attract foreigners however, as they currently account for a small percentage of passengers who start their journey in the city. This was specified by the general director of the company in Spain, Fernando Pacheco, detailing that 90% of the cruise passengers that set sail from Alicante are from Alicante.
Hence, the company manages plans to maintain the response of local tourists and, at the same time, attract another type of public from the centre or north of the country, as well as British visitors in particular. Among these plans, one of the essentials consists of offering shorter tours, lasting seven nights, “which is the type of cruise most in demand by tourists in the whole of the European Union, also in the hotel sector”, Pacheco remarked, instead of the ten contemplated in the currently available routes. It is, in fact, the type of trip that has already been offered from the Port of Valencia for 20 years with very good acceptance, he stressed.
“We are also working on it in Alicante and we already know that, at least, in 2024 it will not be, but it may be that in 2025 we can have a first test,” he stressed. Everything will depend on whether itineraries can be arranged that fit with the arrivals of air flights at other international airports that are key for MSC Cruises, such as Milan, due to Italian and central European tourists. “We believe that in Alicante it is possible that we can offer those seven-night cruises, something that would not be feasible in other ports such as Malaga,” he said.
Apart from this, he pointed out that another possible option to increase the passage that boarded in Alicante would be the implementation of mini-cruises, of between two and three nights. They are usually in high demand, especially between Thursday and Sunday, as they are an affordable option for a getaway. What’s more, he pointed out that this option could be put into practice next autumn on some specific trips that would allow connections with Malaga.
