María Alarcón and Vivian Murillo, the two employees of the Gift store, on Calle Mayor, barely had a minute of respite this Thursday. The visit of more than 5,500 people to the city, including travelers and the crew of two cruise ships, forced them to make an extra effort, the same as they are doing this week, the most ships with tourists this year in Cartagena. “Today is going very well and next week, great,” explained the first of them, while she placed magnets with typical figures of the municipality on one of the walls of the business. The influx to the store was so great that its sales “grew by 70%, approximately, compared to a day without boats,” said Murillo.
Bars, restaurants and shops in the old town as well as most of the museums in Puerto de Culturas registered a high influx of tourists thanks to the arrival of the ‘Celebrity Reflection’ cruise ship, the second ship of the three that will dock this week from the shipping company Celebrity, and the ‘Explorer of the seas’, of the Royal Caribbean shipping company.
The latter drew attention from the Dock for its large and colorful slides that ended in a pool, located on the highest deck. Both are considered two of the largest luxury ships in the world.
By bike, on foot and by ‘segway’
The travelers were already seen very early, with the arrival of the ‘Explorer of the seas’ at eight in the morning. Many hired excursions around the city on foot, while others preferred to do it by bike and Segway. There were also those who chose to visit other municipalities in the Region, such as Murcia, Lorca and Caravaca de la Cruz, which these days celebrate their festivities in honor of the Santísima and Vera Cruz. To do this, buses chartered by the shipping companies were waiting for them at the foot of the pier.
On days like this Thursday, small businesses in the old town, where tourists arriving on ocean liners travel the most, record good profits, so much so that they double them compared to a normal day without visitors. The businesses most in demand are those that sell gifts and souvenirs from the city, although perfume shops and clothing and accessories shops also make good boxes.
In one of them, Álvaro Moreno, on Calle Mayor, the saleswoman Azahara Ros did not stop placing clothes on the shelves and on the coat racks. «A day like this we can do between 30% and 40% more than we do on a normal day. Cruise tourism is very good for the business of the old town », she admitted.
This first week of May is a record in cruise tourism for Cartagena, with the arrival of ten ships and close to more than 13,200 passengers. They are half of the ships that are scheduled to arrive at the port in a month with a forecast of more than 26,000 people aboard 20 ships.
The massive arrival of tourists coincided with the preparations by many bars and restaurants in the old town of Las Cruces de Mayo, such as those on Calle Honda. Among them was the Nuestra Tradición El Abasto restaurant, where travelers came to taste local sausages with tinto de verano.
Rest with ‘pecking’
They also tasted typical tapas in Larvi, on Calle del Aire, where several tour guides stopped along the way to take a break with snacks. In other areas, such as Calle Mayor, what was most requested was the typical rice with beer, but also patatas bravas with red wine. In these cases, the benefits of the bars are not as high as in the shops located in the pedestrian area Plaza del Ayuntamiento, Calle Mayor, Plaza San Sebastián, Puerta de Murcia and Carmen. «Days like this are very good for us to maintain the week. Sometimes, with what is taken out on weekends, we do not arrive, “Dani González from La Mejillonería told LA VERDAD.
The museums also registered a good entrance, especially the Roman Theatre, at whose main door there were queues to enter, and the Museum of the Roman Forum. A girl playing the harp in Plaza San Sebastián also caught the eye of visitors, some of whom rewarded her art with generous tips.
Seven new shipping companies choose the port as their destination this year
Seven new shipping companies have chosen Cartagena this year as the destination for their ships, according to data provided by the Port Authority. The city is considered a consolidated destination in world cruise tourism, where every year more shipping companies opt for the city as a stopover on their Mediterranean routes. So much so that throughout this 2023 there are already 43 travel organization companies of these characteristics that will bring their boats. Cruise traffic forecasts for this year are 150 stopovers and more than 180,000 passengers. These are figures very similar to those of last year and even lower than those of 2019, the year before the coronavirus pandemic.
#tourists #invade #Cartagena #hours #week #cruise #ships