Arrecife has started the new cruise season this September with figures that invite optimism and reflect that the recovery of tourism traveling on ocean liners is on the rise. The calls this Saturday of the ocean liners Anthem of the Seas, and the MSC Virtuosa with 14,000 people, "boosted commercial and hotel activity in the capital of Lanzarote." The Calle Real, the surroundings of the Church of San Ginés and the entire bank of the Charco de San Ginés experienced a huge presence of tourists on the day, which coincided with the traditional market day in Arrecife.
The Anthem of the Seas, with American tourists, will make more stops in Arrecife in the coming weeks with passengers, mostly of American origin. The Royal Caribbean company has this ship, among the largest in its fleet, with circuits through the Canary Islands, Morocco and Portugal during this autumn.
According to the forecasts of the Port Authority of Las Palmas, with the requests of the shipping companies, the port of Arrecife will experience the largest increase in moorings, compared to the figures before the COVID pandemic. The capital of the island has scheduled 242 new calls this new season, added to the two from yesterday Saturday, compared to the 232 registered in the pre-covid stage.
The mayor of Arrecife, and member of the Board of Directors of the Port Authority of Las Palmas, Yonathan de León Machín, has remarked that "the city has a great improvement of port facilities underway, especially those destined to receive cruise tourism."
Precisely, this Monday, the mayor has a work meeting, at the headquarters of the Arrecife City Hall, with the president of the Port Authority of Las Palmas, Beatriz Calzada, to study the future development of the port area of the capital of Lanzarote.
The mayor has highlighted that, "in a planned manner, the modernization of the Arrecife maritime front is underway with the execution of several municipal works." Several of these works, such as the transformations of Canalejas, Valls de la Torre and Manolo Millares streets, will be completed this autumn, and others for the winter of 2024, with the pedestrianization of a section of Avenida Fred Olsen, next to El Reducto, a beach very frequented in winter by cruise passengers arriving at the port of Arrecife.
Mayor Yonathan de León, has recalled that the works to expand the cruise ship dock are currently underway in the port area, with an investment of almost 12 million euros, and the imminent start of the works for the construction of the new passenger terminal in the Arrecife cruise ship dock is planned, thanks to an administrative concession from the Port Authority.
For her part, the Councilor for Tourism, Commerce, Sports and Human Resources, Eli Merino - who has among her objectives for this mandate to relaunch the capital of the island as the epicenter of leisure, shopping and healthy living - has highlighted that cruise tourism boosts the city, helps the economy, and activates the commercial and hotel sector with its calls, as has been seen this weekend in Arrecife with the disembarkation of 14,000 people in a single day.
For the Councilor for Tourism and Commerce, Eli Merino, it is important that, this boom in calls for the new season, almost half, 110, are scheduled from now and before the end of the year, which will allow the hotel, leisure, commercial, transport and excursion companies to have a great economic complement in this coming quarter.
