Samantha Mythen
CÁDIZ officials say their town will not be overrun with cruise ship tourists this summer season as more than 11,000 passengers disembark onto the historical port’s streets on Thursday.
The 10,654 passengers, mostly from the US, Canada and the UK, touring Cádiz arrived on three different cruise ships. May 8 was one of the busiest days for the Port this May, with the three ships docked simultaneously.
More than 13,000 cruise passengers swarmed the old town in August last year when three cruise ships docked at the port. It was a catalyst for the eruption of fiery protests, including a march of 2000 locals led by the group Cádiz Resiste.
The group claimed tourists were ‘stealing our city, our neighbourhoods, and businesses, the very possibility of making a life in Cádiz.’
However, Spokesperson for the Port of Cádiz Raquel Boy Prieto says any restrictive measures are not required this year as there will be ‘no overcrowding situations.’
She said there would be approximately 396 cruise ship calls in 2025, up from just over 300 last year. But there will be no cruise ships in the port for 41% of the year.
“On 126 days there will be only one cruise ship, practically one out of every three days. Two ships will be in port on 57 days of the year; three on 26 days; four are expected on seven days, and five cruise ships are expected on one day.”
Cádiz City Council deputy mayor for tourism, Beatriz Gandullo, said those were not figures of overcrowding by cruise ship tourists.
“The government team has always supported a sustainable tourism model, in harmony with its residents, which is what we want for our city,” she said.
However, resident Marta Pérez Martín says cruise ship passengers arrive to the Old Town – Puertas de Tierra – and don’t leave, doubling the population there during busy periods.
“And in the summer, there are already more tourists, not just the cruise ship passengers.”
“The people of Cádiz can’t shop comfortably, go to work or bars comfortably, or even simply walk the streets comfortably.”
“I’m telling you this as a citizen because I’ve experienced it.” She says she often struggles to manoeuvre her young daughter and stroller through the summer crowds.
She lives across from the port where the cruises dock and hears each ship as it enters the Mediterranean waters. “We’re living here, studying, working, taking care of our daughters, trying to sleep and rest, and the cruise ships bring so much noise, noise at late hours,” Martín says.
She doubts that the cruises will only be Cádiz for 41% of the year, and she points out that, within that period, many ships are arriving at once. April saw 61 ships in port.
But Gandullo explained, although there is an increase in the number of ships arriving this year compared to last, they will be smaller ships, with fewer passengers and “greater purchasing power.”
“This is the model that the Port Authority of Cádiz wants, and we at the Cádiz City Council support it because we believe it contributes to better coexistence with our neighbors and to sustainability,” Gandullo said.
She said Cádiz does not face the same situation as the Balearic Islands or Catalonia, where cruise ship bans or daily limits have been introduced.
Prieto further said the cruise ship passengers have a ‘significant economic impact on the region.’ “We consider cruise ships are an important tourism sector, with customers shopping and consuming in the city’s shops and bars,” Gandullo added.
Martín says the residents are not seeing this positive economic impact though.
“The cruise ship tourists come with everything paid for on the cruise. In the city they buy a magnet, a postcard, a souvenir, but what kind of money is that?” she said.
“If they don’t sleep in the city, they won’t have breakfast or dinner in the city and now all they do is shop in supermarkets, hardly even drinking in bars or cafes.” She said she is seeing this first-hand when she’s completing her own weekly shops.
What she doesn’t see are any visible benefits from the tourist tax passengers pay when entering Cádiz.
“It’s so tiny and it should be increased,” she says. As a traveller herself, Martín advised tourists to stay away from the ‘tense’ areas and explore elsewhere and less often.
Three ships are scheduled to arrive again to Cadiz Port on the same day on May 20 and 21.
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