• The City Council aims to rationalize the impact of cruise tourism in Valencia
- Between May 2024 and May 2025, there has been an annual decrease of 7.77% in cruise passengers
- The mayor explains that «this decrease is part of a joint strategy to rationalize the impact of this type of tourism»
“The commitment of the City Council of Valencia to gradually, thoughtfully, reasonably, and sensibly reduce, ultimately, organize cruise tourism in the city has been ratified today with figures,” as announced by the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, at the end of the Board of Directors meeting of the Port Authority
According to the mayor, this meeting presented “data that confirm the commitment of both administrations to progressively reduce the influx of cruises in the city”. Thus, the number of cruise passengers who disembarked in Valencia between May 2024 and May 2025 has decreased by 77.7% compared to those who did so between May 2023 and May 2024.
“This decrease is part of a meticulous, joint strategy initiated a year ago by both institutions to rationalize the impact of this type of tourism in Valencia, a meticulous work that does not intend, by any means, to eliminate cruise passengers from the city, but to organize this cruise tourism”
“This work is progressing at a fairly correct pace, and obviously, we will continue working on this organization with a series of criteria that we established at the time and that we continue to work on in the Joint Monitoring Committee of the Port Authority and the City Council of Valencia”.
The mayor also pointed out that “there is no ideal number or limit of cruise passengers set, but absorption criteria are applied by the city based on its capacity in different times of the year”. “Likewise, the arrival of cruises with Valencia as a home port is prioritized, as they generate a more positive and sustained economic impact,” she added.
“We think that this is a much more interesting tourism for the city, and with the criterion of common sense, sensibility, and rationalization of this tourism, we will try as much as possible to avoid certain cruises disembarking at the same time. However, it is true that this is a matter of time, as we have just begun, since cruises are usually booked two years in advance, and therefore, this requires a meticulous, time-consuming process. We made the commitment a year ago and we will continue to see the results of that work,” Catalá explained.
On the other hand, the mayor has reported an addendum to extend the assistance of the Valencia Firefighters throughout the port area in cases of need. “Over the next four years, they will assist the Port Authority in times of need, emergencies, and urgencies. This is also part of a much more ambitious plan that we presented last week, which is now starting its journey with the first training courses for trainers, which is the Safer Valencia Plan,” she explained.