“We have to think again and reduce operations further, otherwise we are not going to build a sustainable tourism; all sectors have to be transformed to a lesser and higher quality tourism,” explained Jaume Garau, president of Palma XXI and member of the Platform.
In addition, referring to data provided by the Balearic Port Authority, he indicated that, so far this year, 340 cruise ships have visited Palma, 20 percent less than at the same time in 2019, “so it is true that the industry is recovering, but not to pre-pandemic levels”.
However, he regretted that the number of passengers has fallen by 40 percent, “because it means that many ships have come with fewer passengers who spend less and less in the city”.
He called on the government to carry out an analysis of the costs and benefits involved considering that “the expenditure made by cruise passengers is lower”.
On the other hand, Garau stressed the consequences for the health of the population and stated that the costs associated in Mallorca with lung diseases due to the impact of pollution “are close to 56 million euros”.
“These large ships are not made for a port like Palma which needs smaller vessels that pollute less,” the president of Palma XXI said. He called for “smaller ships for the city, with passengers with greater spending power, that do not overcrowd and that spend more on what is produced here”.
“We want a cruise ship industry that provides cultural and social wealth, not one that extracts it,” said Garau, who considered that the appropriate limitation could be a maximum of one large cruise ship “while a study is being carried out” or none at all “and that only smaller ones should be allowed”.
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You gotta love Mallorca. They want it to be a 365 destination but don't want shops or restaurants open on Sundays. They want tourist money, but only ones that spend a certain, unspecified amount. Cruise ships have become the new all-inclusive hotels.
It might be a good thing, but Mallorca send out dual messages. They want the tourist money in abundance but not too many tourists. They always talk about wanting Mallorca being more upmarket, unfortunately it's not the government who decides but the people who wants to visit. They want to restrict foreign housebuyers, restrict rental cars , increase the tourists tax but without tourists Mallorca government will have less money to spend. I think they should also focus on their own problems not just what they always blames the touristf for. A complete adhering view is needed, now it's bitty, whatever comes up seems to be flavour of the day.
The ships pollute. The Cruseros spend little on land and they often swarm Palma to choking point at the popular destinations especially when there’s a number of ships in port. How this is still accepted and not challenged by every political hue on the island is baffling. Oh no, hold on, I forgot. Silly me. It’s all about greed. And we all know that Greed is….king, especially here. Quality is what the wealthy can easily pay for. Everything else is, for regular income folk, getting far too pricey. In the drive to attract better income tourists we are in danger of having the super rich remain, pushing up prices and the riff raff bringing in their cash in smaller buckets or just going elsewhere.
Hello Humphrey, Its not a matter of the vessels sizes it´s all about new legislation, Majorca should provide power from shore to vessels of these sizes and make it mandatory for cruise ships to connect to the backbone power grid. Kim
Finally, a sensible approach. I don’t think anyone believes that we will see an end to these super polluters in Palma’s Port - but control is vital. Due to the nature of the running systems of these giant cruise ships, they keep their huge Diesel engines running during the entire ‘stop over’ period in the port. Pumping their pollution into the environment. Making Palma a less attractive location for all tourists and locals alike. An urgent impartial study is needed. But whilst that happens, protection via restriction is vital. The example of Venís is perfect. Just don’t wait too late to act. The environmental clock is ticking.