(Madrid) Overwhelmed by the influx of tourists disembarking from cruise ships, the island of Mallorca, in the Spanish Balearic archipelago, will limit the number of ships of this type authorized to anchor there from 2022 .
Some 518 cruise ships (carrying at least 500 passengers) will be allowed to stop in the port of Palma de Mallorca next year, the Balearic regional government said in a statement on Monday evening.
In 2019, before the pandemic hit, nearly 600 cruise ships docked in this port.
A maximum of three cruise ships will now be allowed to arrive on the same day, and there can only be one “mega-liner” among them, that is to say ships accommodating more than 5,000 passengers, the authorities specify. .
The measure, implemented for five years, required more than two years of discussions with the Association of International Cruise Lines (CLIA), an entity representing the major cruise lines.
“This is the first time that we have put a real limit on the arrival of cruise passengers in Palma,” said Regional Tourism Manager Iago Negueruela.
The inhabitants of Palma de Mallorca have long demanded regulation for the arrivals of cruise ships, arguing that these massive influxes of tourists upset their daily lives. Residents say they avoid going to central Palma on docking days and anti-tourist graffiti had started to appear on the city’s walls before the pandemic.
But the point of view of tour operators, taxi drivers and restaurateurs is very different, the latter believing for their part that the archipelago needs cruise ships and their tourists.