Cruise ships surpass record number of calls in the Azores - Communication

Secretaria Regional do Turismo, Mobilidade e Infraestruturas

This Sunday, the Ponta Delgada port received the 153rd call of a cruise ship, a figure that surpasses the calls recorded in 2017, its most significant year.

The "Hanseatic Spirit," which docked at the renovated commercial quay of Ponta Delgada, goes down in history as the ship that surpassed the highest number of port calls recorded this year at this gateway to the archipelago.

As such, the 153 calls surpassed the previous record reached in 2017, when there were 152 calls by cruise ships in Azorean ports.

This milestone is expected to come to new figures very soon, considering that 64 more calls by tourist ships are expected until the end of the year. They should bring 52 thousand more passengers to the islands - a situation that may lead to 217 calls and more than 200 thousand passengers visiting the Azores by sea.

In response, the Regional Secretary for Tourism, Mobility and Infrastructures, Berta Cabral, congratulated the Regional Port Authorities for these results. As she emphasised, "these data and projections are the result of an integrated policy to promote the Azores as a sustainable destination with differentiating features, where culture, the sea, innovation and technology consolidate the excellence of our tourism offer."

The government official also pointed out that "the full operation of quay - 10 at the Ponta Delgada port since July 29 this year, after expansion works, is providing better conditions, in this case, for calls of cruise ships as well as for the arrival of passengers."