Image
The announcement was made in London by the cruise line, one of the three most important in the United Kingdom, thus returning to the country after a hiatus of more than three years from the Colombian coast. This time, the ship will be the Thomson Dream, one of the most high-profile ships of the company.
The ship, which can accommodate 1,506 passengers and 600 crew members, will set sail from Montego Bay in Jamaica, which serves as a boarding port in Latin America for the company, under the Thomson Holidays Group, with operations in the Mediterranean Sea, the Baltic and Scandinavian area.
" According to estimates by Thomson Cruises, 99% of passengers will come from Europe. This is a market that we have been exploring for the promotion of the cruises sector and on which we will place special emphasis in 2014 to increase the number of international travelers to the country&rdquo , said the President of PROCOLOMBIA, Maria Claudia Lacouture.
PROCOLOMBIA works together with ship companies to provide information regarding the attractions at national ports, in order to include the same within their itineraries. Once this happens, it will also help them identify how they can increase their port calls, the number of vessels and the amount of passengers they bring into the country.
All these actions are included within the " Colombia is Magical Realism&rdquo strategy, which tells the world how the mixture of reality and fantasy combine in all regions of the country for the enjoyment of foreigners, who will live unique and unforgettable experiences.
The opportunities for these types of experiences are extensive in Cartagena. Cruise ship passengers can travel back to the past while roaming the cobblestone streets follow in the footsteps of Nobel Prize winner for Literature, Gabriel Garcia Marquez who lived in the city and inspired his works or enjoy the local, mixed and international gastronomy available at hundreds of restaurants.
During the 2012-2013 season, 275,662 cruise passengers arrived at Colombian ports, representing an increase of 5.9% over the 2011-2012 period, in which 260,404 tourists visited the country aboard these ships.
During 2013, the cruise ship industry in Colombia has been the subject matter of important developments, not only because last October the country hosted the 20th Annual Conference of the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), which brings together key members of Caribbean operators, but also because various lines have increased their presence in national ports.
For example, the European company MSC Cruises also announced that in 2014 it would bring its ship Divina to the coast of Cartagena. In addition, the Spanish cruise line Pullmantur expanded its ship capacity in Colombia with the Monarch, which arrived for the first time in the renowned heroic city last April and which has capacity for 1,200 passengers, about 400 more than the previous ship.
