Canary Islands lead Spain’s cruise tourism boom
The ports of Spain’s Canary Islands are at the forefront of a national surge in cruise tourism, posting some of the country’s most impressive growth figures for the first seven months of 2024. The province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife welcomed 893,594 cruise passengers from January to July, a massive 33.4% increase compared to the same period last year. Not to be outdone, the ports in the province of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria registered an arrival of 1,193,918 cruise passengers, a substantial 23.8% rise.
National context and July’s standout figures
This growth significantly outpaces the national average. Across all Spanish ports, a total of 7.5 million cruise passengers were recorded by the end of July, which is a 16.5% year-on-year increase. This traffic arrived on 2,796 ships, marking a 22% rise with 505 more vessels than the previous year. When combining both regular ferry lines and cruise traffic, Spain’s total maritime passenger traffic reached 22.9 million users. This overall figure represents a 6.5% increase compared to the data from 2024.
The month of July alone saw total passengers hit 5.2 million. Of these, nearly 4 million travelled on regular ferry lines, showing a slight dip of 0.3%, while a booming 1.3 million arrived by cruise, an 11.7% jump according to data published by Puertos del Estado (State Ports). A total of 328 cruise ships docked in Spain in July, a 15% annual increase.
Top ports for cruise passengers
Of the 7.5 million cruise passengers arriving in Spanish ports so far this year, the majority disembarked at the port of Barcelona, which welcomed 2.1 million passengers—a 12% increase. It was followed by the ports in the Balearic Islands (1.4 million, +9.4%), Las Palmas (1.2 million, +23.8%), and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (893,594, +33.4%).
In July, Barcelona’s port maintained its lead with 453,131 cruise passengers, a figure on par with the previous year. The Balearic Islands’ port facilities followed with 354,643 passengers.
Where the ships are docking
Looking at ship calls rather than passenger numbers reveals a slightly different picture. In the first seven months, the most popular ports for ship calls were Las Palmas with 459 visits (a 31% increase) and Barcelona with 463 calls (a 16.3% increase). They were followed by the Balearic Islands (428 calls, +12%) and Santa Cruz de Tenerife (402 calls, a remarkable 34% rise).
On a monthly basis for July, the Balearic Islands led with 84 vessels, followed by Barcelona with 79. The Bay of Cádiz, Valencia, and Málaga received 28, 27, and 21 ships, respectively. In contrast, Santa Cruz de Tenerife saw only three cruise ship arrivals in July, and Las Palmas received just two, indicating that the larger volumes of passengers in the Canaries are concentrated outside the peak summer months, likely during the autumn and winter season.
