Negative Impact Of Cruise Industry Is More Than Obvious | tourism-review.com
In 2013, Spain launched a campaign, called "Blue Carpet", to encourage the development of cruise tourism. Five years later, with its 28 authorized ports, the country has become the first in the Mediterranean Basin to receive cruise ships. Barcelona was in the lead with 2.7 million cruise passengers in 2017 (for a city of 1.6 million inhabitants).
Around the Mediterranean, the number of cruise ports has doubled in ten years. And yet the region is only the third market worldwide regarding cruise industry: the most developed destinations are the Caribbean and Asia Pacific.
In total, the number of passengers is expected to be about 27.2 million in 2018 worldwide, up from 24.7 million two years earlier, according to the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This exponential growth is not about to slow down, with 106 new ships expected to enter service in the next ten years, according to Cruise Industry News.
