The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the cruise industry very hard. However, the Italian market believes (as shown by the planned investments) in a rapid recovery of the sector, which will also close 2021 with 2.7 million passengers moved compared to 645 thousand of the previous year.
The bet on sea tourism
Results still very far from those of 2019 (over 12 million passengers handled) but which have not prevented ports from continuing to bet on cruises. For which in Italy, in the three-year period 2022-2024, over 821 million euros of port investments by system authorities and terminal operators are planned, of which 258 million in the infrastructure area (31.4%), 231 million for dredging operations (equal to 28.2%) and 210 million for new structures and cruise terminals (25.7%). For the first time, then, investments attributable to environmental issues exceed the double figure of the total (over 107 million euros, 13.1%), while the other items weigh less than 2%.
The presentation of Italian cruise watch 2021
The data comes from Italian cruise watch 2021, the annual report on the sector compiled by Risposte Turismo, the research company led by Francesco di Cesare, which will be presented on 29 October in Savona, at the Palacrociere, during the tenth edition of theItalian cruise dayAccording to the report, on which some previews were provided yesterday, La Spezia, Brindisi, Trapani, Porto Empedocle and Venice are the ports that will register the greatest investments in the next three years.
The projections
According to the projections of Risposte Turismo, at the end of 2021 cruise traffic in Italian ports will reach, as mentioned, 2.7 million passengers (including embarkations, disembarkations and transits), with a growth of 325% on the 645 thousand passengers handled in the 2020, in full Covid-19 health emergency. «A result – explained di Cesare – the result above all of a good summer season and of the expectations for the end of the second semester, which will bring cruise traffic back to 2001 values, after the fall to 1993 values recorded in 2020; but which is still very far from the historical record of 2019 »r.
The regional ranking
In a regional ranking, according to the report, at the end of the year Liguria will lead the top ten, with over 750 thousand passengers handled (+ 188% on 2020) and 270 berths (+ 183%); followed by Lazio, with 550 thousand passengers handled (+ 164%) and 290 touched (+ 233%) and Sicily, with almost half a million cruise passengers handled (497 thousand, + 401% on last year) and the first place in terms of number of ship calls (300 with a variation of + 361% on 2020).