The mayor of Arrecife, Yonathan de León, has participated this week in the official opening ceremony of Seatrade Cruise Med 2026, which has brought together shipping companies, ports, tourist destinations, and specialized companies from all over the world in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
De León has met with executives from major shipping companies and has "confirmed that the city of Arrecife would reach the figure of 900,000 cruise passengers before the end of 2030". Among them, he held a meeting with the general director of MSC Cruises for Spain, Fernando Pacheco, who confirmed that Arrecife will continue to be a home port for his company's cruises until 2029.
Currently, and according to official statistics from the Port Authority of Las Palmas, the ports of Arrecife would close this 2026 with the arrival of nearly 730,000 cruise passengers.
The capital of Lanzarote, with an accumulated increase of 16%, becomes the cruise destination that grows the most during this 2026 in all state ports in the Canary Islands archipelago. Thus, Arrecife represents more than 30% of cruise passengers in the managed facilities of the Port Authority of Las Palmas.
Seatrade Cruise Med 2026 concludes this Thursday, September 17, and brings together shipping companies, ports, tourist destinations, and specialized companies from all over the world. The event is taking place at the Cruise Terminal of the Port of Las Palmas. With nearly 14,000 square meters, it is the largest fair in the sector in Europe.
The event brings together more than 100 speakers, 70% of whom are in management positions, and offers more than 25 sessions and 20 hours of content on the future of cruise tourism, sustainability, innovation, and the evolution of destinations. Seatrade Cruise Med has 224 exhibitors from ports, destinations, associations, and tour operators from different countries. Among the companies and organizations present will be MedCruise, Global Ports Holding, Cruise Europe, Cruise Britain, Cruise Baltic, Cruise Norway, and Intercruises Shoreside & Port Services, in addition to new international participants.
According to the mayor of Arrecife, several companies are rescheduling cruises to the Canary Islands, and Lanzarote, which were initially planned to operate in the winter of 2027/2028 in the Persian Gulf region.
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