Carnival has signed a concession agreement with the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in Spain to operate the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Cruise Terminal in the Canary Islands.
The long-term deal is expected to benefit the authority’s other ports such as Santa Cruz de La Palma, San Sebastián de La Gomera, La Estaca in El Hierro, and Los Cristianos in Tenerife.
Santa Cruz de Tenerife Cruise Terminal was opened in 2016 and is designed to handle the next-generation of ‘green’ cruise ships powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG).
Carnival global port and destination development senior vice-president Giora Israel said: “This concession and our ongoing investment is part of Carnival’s long-term strategy to continue to develop the cruise industry in the Canary Islands.
“Our passion is to always provide the best possible experiences for our guests, and Tenerife is an extremely popular destination that offers something for everyone, including a storied history, beautiful beaches, exotic gardens, unique crafts and memorable cuisine.”
This month, Santa Cruz de Tenerife Cruise Terminal is expected to receive AIDAnova, an LNG-powered ship from Carnival’s Germany-based AIDA Cruises brand.
A number of Carnival brands made port calls to Tenerife so far this year, including AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, and P&O Cruises UK.
Carnival aims to bring more than 300,000 passenger visits to the port this year with 130 calls by 31 ships from various cruise lines operated by the company.
Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife president Pedro Suárez López de Vergara said: “Thanks in large part to Carnival ships, the cruise market generated an economic impact to the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the city of Santa Cruz of €24m ($27.1m) in the 2018 cruise season, an increase of €6m from the 2017 cruise season.
“We look forward to continuing to share our beautiful island with visiting cruise passengers coming through this cruise terminal.”
Last year, Santa Cruz de Tenerife handled 617,987 cruise passengers.
