Cruise industry in Cozumel, far from reaching pre-pandemic levels

Cancun, QR. In the first two months of 2022, 219 tourist cruise ships arrived in Cozumel with 319,380 passengers -not counting the crew-, a figure still far from the same period in 2020, before the start of the pandemic, when 309 ocean liners docked with 918,823 users on board.

The foregoing means that the island has barely recovered 34.7% compared to pre-pandemic levels two years ago.

From March 2020 to May 2021, Cozumel did not capture a single ship, since it was not until June of that year that the industry was reactivated. This allowed it to close last year with 353 ships and 650,017 passengers, that is, in the second half of 2021 the island captured just 70.7% of what arrived in the first two months of 2020.

In the first two months of 2019, the comparison is similar, since the island captured a total of 291 ships and 906,024 passengers on board, that is, in the first two months of 2022 the island only registered 35.2% of the volume of cruise tourists that arrived to receive the year prior to the health crisis.

Programming confirmed to March 20

Between March 1 and 20, the confirmed programming so far is 81 cruises for the three docks that the island of Cozumel has.

In fact, among the programming is the arrival of the Wonder of the Seas, of Royal Caribbean, the largest cruise ship in the world, with 4,394 passengers and 2,167 crew members, according to the report of the Integral Port Administration of Quintana Roo.

The cruise ship has a capacity for almost 7,000 passengers and 2,300 crew members. Furthermore, she has 18 decks and was built at the Chantiers de l’Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France.

Among its amenities is the “Aqua Theater”, an open-air theater overlooking the ocean and the “Wonder Playscape”, an underwater world with slides, climbing walls and games.

According to the shipping company, passengers who have decided to get off the ship in Cozumel will be able to enjoy water and land excursions with more than twenty certified operators to areas of archaeological and cultural interest, adventure tourism, visit beach clubs and enjoy the beauty of the Caribbean Sea, in addition to enjoying the entertainment services of the commercial area that has more than 100 stores with international and regional food, jewelry stores and a wide variety of handicrafts.

During its first arrival in Cozumel, authorities and personalities from the region gathered at the facilities of the SSA Mexico International Cruise Terminal to officially welcome the ship.

After visiting Cozumel, the ship will head to Europe where she will visit Barcelona, ​​Spain and Rome, Italy, returning in November with bi-weekly visits to Cozumel.

estados@eleconomista.mx