A 2.78% increase in passengers and 3.53% more ship calls are expected compared to 2015, according to Risposte Turismo’s preview of its Italian Cruise Watch report. The modest increase follows significant growth from 2014 to 2015.
The 2016 estimates take the overall numbers to 11,396,000 passengers and 4,994 ship calls, up from 11,094,092 passengers and 4,880 calls lst year.
Francesco Di Cesare, president of the Venice-based consultancy Risposte Turismo, provided the figures ahead of Italian Cruise Day 2016, Sept. 30 at La Spezia. Early estimates for 2017, which may be further tempered by geopolitical issues, will be released at the event.
Risposte Turismo's data are based on estimates provided by 49 ports, which handle 99.6% of the cruise passengers and 96.8% of the cruise ship calls in Italy.
The Liguria region's ports—including Genoa and Savona—maintain their leadership with more than 2.6m passengers and a 2.1% increase on 2015, followed by the Lazio region (including Civitavecchia) with just over 2.3m passengers (+1.3%), Campania (whose top port is Naples) with 1.7m passengers (+6.1%) which surpassed Veneto (Venice) with 1.6m passengers (+1.1%) and Sicily with over 1.1m passengers (+1.7%).
In terms of ship calls, the Lazio region projects 874, Campania expects 810 and Sicily, 789.
Civitavecchia maintains its leadership among Italian cruise ports with 2.3m passengers (+1.3%) and 835 calls (+5.2%), followed by Venice with 1.6m passengers (+1.1%) and 535 calls (+2.7%), Naples with 1.3m passengers (+5.2%) and 480 calls (+7.8%) and Genoa with slightly more than 1m passengers and 245 calls.
Venice, with its lackluster growth, and Genoa, with its big increases, illustrate the contrast between the Western and Eastern Mediterranean.
Genoa shows the highest growth in passengers (+23.8%) and calls (23.7%) among ports with more than 1m passengers, surpassing Savona with 980,000 passengers (-0.2%) and 211 calls (-8.7%), according to the data provided by Risposte Turismo to Seatrade Cruise News.
Livorno stands at 790,000 passengers (+13.2%) and 417 calls (+13%) while La Spezia expects 540,000 passengers (-19.1%) and 140 calls (-20%). La Spezia's numbers are likely to rebound in 2017 thanks to the recently opened cruise terminal and the return of major lines to the homeport.
Palermo shows a slight reduction, with 510,000 passengers (-6.7%) and 175 calls (-12.5%) while both Bari and Messina grew, respectively registering 480,000 passengers (+30%) and 361,773 passengers (+10.4%), and 149 and 189 (+18.1%) calls.
In recent years, these and many other smaller ports have experienced year-to-year swings as lines try different destinations.
The other Italian ports expect more than 1.4m passengers (-5.1%) and 1,618 calls (+2.2%) in 2016.
In August Italy's passenger ports had to step up security due to increasing geopolitical issues, a factor that could impact the 2017 numbers.
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