The mayor of Arrecife, Yonathan de León, who is also part of the Board of Directors of the Las Palmas Port Authority, announced this Friday that Arrecife will receive 40% of cruise passengers per year in all the ports managed by the state entity in Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura.
The first mayor of Arrecife has shared this projection that is expected to be fulfilled before 2028, on the eve of the commemoration of World Tourism Day, and he does so with the forecasts of the largest cruise terminal operator in the world, Global Ports, concessionaire of the new cruise terminals in the ports of Arrecife, in Naos and Los Mármoles.
Global Ports confirmed these forecasts to the representatives of the capital city council at the last fair in Hamburg specializing in cruises.
During the presentation of the new terminals in the ports of the Port Authority at said international fair, held at the Ports of the State stand, the general director of Global Ports for Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Puerto del Rosario and Arrecife, Susana Gutiérrez, explained that they plan to reach two million passengers before 2028 in the province.
Of that figure, 800,000 will arrive in Arrecife, which now has the capacity for the simultaneous docking of up to five large cruise ships at the Naos docks (with the main terminal) and at Los Mármoles, with another inhabited terminal, making Lanzarote the island with the most docking capacity in docks equipped for cruise ships in the province of Las Palmas.
Weekend with 9,000 cruise passengers
Arrecife will experience this weekend, coinciding with the celebration of World Tourism Day, the stopover of three large cruise ships with almost nine thousand passengers, according to the stopovers planned by the APLP, and published on its official website.
This Saturday, September 27, Arrecife will receive the stopover of the mega cruise ship Iona, with about 7,500 people, including tourists and crew. The Iona, en route to Cádiz, belongs to Carnival, one of the largest shipping groups specializing in tourism, and whose Chief of Operations, Mayor Yonathan de León and Councilor Eli Merino met in Hamburg.
On Sunday the 28th, the day on which the shops in the Arrecife Open Commercial Zone will open in line with what the City Council has requested, the British cruise ship Ventura will arrive, with another 2,000 passengers. The ship will set sail on Sunday at around 6:00 p.m. for Cádiz.
On Monday, the 29th, the exclusive boutique cruise ship Island Sky will dock, with almost 400 passengers, who have paid around 7,000 euros per cabin for this circuit.
In addition, Merino recalled that, during this autumn, Arrecife will receive the first stopovers of MSC, the shipping company that has designated the island of Lanzarote as a base for its future cruises planned between 2025 and 2027.
On the other hand, after inaugurating the new terminals in the ports of Arrecife this past spring, Global Ports has scheduled the opening of the new cruise terminal in Gran Canaria for next week, after an investment of 32 million euros, and which will have an outdoor esplanade of 17,800 square meters with gardens, pedestrian areas and a palm grove.
The four docking areas total 1,587 meters of dock line, with drafts of up to 11 meters. This holding operates in 33 ports in 21 countries.