It is necessary to improve the arrival of cruise ships to Mazatlan

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Before 2010, more than 200 vessels arrived each year with around 500,000 passengers; this year 149 will arrive, the highest figure in the last eight years

Mazatlan , Sinaloa. – As a misfortune that brought millionaire losses, business closure and unemployment to Mazatlan , it is considered 2010 by own and strangers, since at the end of that year and beginning of 2011, the shipping companies decided to suspend their arrivals to the port , due to insecurity in the area and market problems , absence that lasted for almost three years.

Between 2010 and 2011, the most acute phase of the crisis, 526 commercial premises of the port closed, three thousand 22 direct jobs and around five thousand indirect ones were lost, according to data from the Association of Merchants of the Golden Zone.

For its part, the Secretariat of Tourism in Sinaloa acknowledged that the economic spill had losses in the order of 16 million 870 thousand dollars in 2011, as a result of the absence of cruise ships.

To eight years of this adversity, Mazatlan has not been able to overcome the level that was had, despite all the efforts that have been made by two state administrations and three mayorships, plus the return to the port of eight shipping lines and the upward trend in the arrivals of cruises.

The times of great bonanza are still far away, because until before 2010, the highest arrival records were 223 and 244 cruises a year, with more than 500 thousand passengers.

This year is expected to achieve the highest figure since that date, with a projection of 149 annual cruises, of which, to date have reached 51 ships with more than 187 thousand passengers and crew.

FIGURES COUNT

In the first decade of the century, the records of arrival at the port maintained peaks of 223 cruises with 473 thousand passengers, in 2015; 244 vessels with 532 thousand passengers in 2008, and 192 cruises with 526 thousand passengers, in 2010.

The figure fell precipitously in 2011 to only 40 cruises with 71 thousand passengers and hit bottom in 2012 with the arrival of a single ship with 700 passengers. Still in 2013, the annual passenger movement was 6 cruises with 8 thousand 700 passengers.

The recovery of this segment has occurred little by little, after those two years and 10 months of absence; in 2014, 35 cruises arrived at port, the number increased in 2015 to 77 ships, for 2016 the figure was 83 and in 2017 it remained at 80. By 2018, the arrival record was 90 cruises , and this year is expected to exceed 149.

The difference between the golden decade of shipping tourism in Mazatlan and ‘the before and after’ of 2010, is shown more by comparing the annual averages of each other, because in the first, it was 177 cruises per year with 406 thousand passengers, and in the second, of 51.5 cruises with 120 thousand 562 passengers.

WHAT WAS THE CAUSE?

Shipping companies canceled their cruise arrivals for fear of executions in tourist areas, as well as travel alerts issued by the United States and the high perception of insecurity in the port.

In 2010 alone, 499 homicides were committed in the southern part of the state, affecting the image of Mazatlan locally, nationally and abroad.

Still in September 2011, a shootout occurred in the Golden Zone, in front of foreign visitors.

Since that year, the state government implemented operational actions to restore confidence, it was possible to reduce the death figures by 20%; the downward trend continued until 2014, closing with 160 murders in the region.

It was at the end of 2013, when the shipping companies decided to return to the port one after another; the first to do so was the “Veendam” cruise, of the Holland American Line company, with 2 thousand people on board, between passengers and crew.

To this were added Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line and Princess Cruises. For 2017, five new shipping lines confirmed their return to Mazatlan: Disney Cruises Line, Oceania Cruises, Azamara, Crystal Cruises and Seven Seas.

Currently there are eight shipping lines that arrive at the port, including Fred Olsen Cruise Lines and Celebrity Cruises.

NEW WARNING

Since November 2012, the port of Mazatlán was out of the travel warnings issued by the US government, on 11 occasions it had been ratified as a safe destination; however, on December 8, 2016, the US Department of State included it in its alert, with the following exhortation:

“One of the most powerful criminal organizations in Mexico is in this state (Sinaloa) and violent crime rates are still high in many parts of the state. Travel in Mazatlan should be limited to the Golden Zone, the historic center of the city, as well as direct routes to and from these places and the airport. “

Since then, this legend appears every year in the travel warnings issued by the United States to their fellow citizens, which puts fate at risk, if the criminal acts, especially those of high impact, come to rebound, hence the importance to maintain security operations that curb the incidence of violence.

PROGRAM 2019

Source: General Coordination of Ports and Merchant Marine; API-Mazatlán

MONTH / CRUISES

January, 17

February, 13

March, 15

April, 17

May, 6

June, 4

July, 5

August, 4

September, 4

October, 17

November, 14

TOTAL: 136 arrivals

MARCH ACCUMULATED MOVEMENT

2019

107 thousand 675 cruise passengers

2018

89 thousand 778 passengers

ANNUAL PASSENGER MOVEMENT

Source: SCT and General Coordination of Ports and Merchant Marine

2005, 223 cruises with 473 thousand passengers

2008, 244 cruises with 532 thousand passengers

2010, 192 cruises with 526 thousand passengers

2011, 40 cruises with 71 thousand passengers

2012, 1 cruise with 700 passengers

2013, 6 cruises with 8 thousand 700 passengers

2014, 35 cruises with 85 thousand passengers

2015, 77 cruises with 195 thousand passengers

2016, 83 cruises with 212 thousand 500 passengers

2017, 80 cruises with 205 thousand 600 passengers

2018, 90 cruises with 258 thousand 700 passengers

2019 *, 41 cruises with 107 thousand 700 passengers

* Figures for the month of March, but with a projection of 136 cruises in the year.

SHIPPING LINES THAT ARRIVE AT THE PORT

Carnival

Princess Cruises

Disney Cruise Line

Fred Olsen Cruise Lines

Norwegian

Holland American Line

Celebrity Cruises

Oceania Cruises

Source: sol de sinaloa

The Mazatlan Post