Sergio Senesi, president of Cemar Agency Network, is optimistic. He has just illustrated, in the context of the Seatrade Cruise Global underway in Ft.Lauderdale, the estimates for the 2023 cruise market, which say well. “We have received and analyzed strong signs of growth, in particular as regards the number of passengers handled in Italian ports compared to ship calls”.
Forecasts
According to Cemar, at the end of 2023, approximately 12,800,000 passengers will be handled in the ports of the peninsula (+37.6% compared to 2022 and +9.2% compared to 2019, which was the last pre-pandemic season). Ship calls will instead be slightly lower than those recorded in 2022: 4,915 against 4,955 in the previous year. Finally, there will be 168 ships in transit in Italian waters representing 52 shipping companies.
As for the ports, those involved in cruise traffic will be 72. The leadership of Civitavecchia (2.8 million) will continue, followed on an equal footing by Genoa (1.4 million) and Naples (1.4 million). Among the first 10, in descending order, Savona, La Spezia, Palermo, Messina, Livorno, Venice and Trieste.
As far as cruise traffic on a regional basis is concerned, Liguria (3.2 million) is confirmed as first in the standings, as well as being the region in which 83% of the agencies that manage the calls of cruise ships in Italy are concentrated, followed by Lazio (2.9 million), Campania (1.6 million) and Sicily (1.5 million).
Among the companies that in 2023 will handle the highest number of passengers in Italian ports, MSC Cruises stands out, which will approach 4 million passengers
get busy. Costa Cruises (2.4 million), Royal Caribbean (1.2 million), Norwegian Cruise Line (1.1 million) and Celebrity Cruises (0.8 million) will follow.
The busiest months will be October (725 calls), September (639 calls), May (636 calls) and August (625 calls).
According to Senesi, the growth will continue also in 2024, when the passengers handled in Italian ports will exceed 13 million. “Italy is reconfirmed as the leading cruise destination in the Mediterranean Sea, with strong signs of growth
for the entire two-year period 2023-2024, which will also see the arrival of new and greener ships”.