LIVORNO. Four cruise ships will take turns in port, for a total of 75 calls compared to 27 in 2023, thanks to Fantasia, Grandiosa, Orchestra and Lirica. The MSC Cruises season in Livorno will officially begin on Sunday 21 April with the first stop. This year the leading company in the Mediterranean – and third company in the sector globally – will record a new record of passengers, handling over 306 thousand tourists. The first will be Grandiosa, «a cruise ship – explains the company – among the most modern and advanced in the world from a technological and environmental point of view, launched at the end of 2019, will stop every Sunday for the entire summer season in the Tuscan port, with approximately six thousand passengers on board, thus confirming the centrality of the city of Modigliani in the development strategies of MSC Crociere in the Mediterranean”.
The number of tourists handled by the company in Livorno during 2024, thanks to the 75 stopovers planned at the concession terminal at Porto 2000, will in fact reach almost triple the number of passengers compared to pre-Covid levels (110 thousand in 2019, 50 thousand in 2018) « thus testifying once again to the competitiveness and tourist-cultural importance of the Tuscan city – writes MSC – now famous internationally for its beauty, its thousand-year history and the richness of its artistic heritage. Furthermore, from Livorno, cruise passengers will be able to excursion to wonderful places such as Pisa, Florence and the other art cities of Tuscany, providing a significant contribution to the economic development of the territory, structures, activities and destinations favored by cruise passengers such as museums , shops, bars and restaurants.”
Leonardo Massa, vice-president of Southern Europe of the cruise division of the MSC group, explains that «Livorno is a particularly important place for MSC Crociere, which has decided to continue to invest in it significantly, developing its considerable tourist potential and promoting it as an increasingly relevant destination as part of its strategies, also considering the notable success achieved by the city among our passengers. Livorno is in fact a very popular tourist destination both because it is rich in great history and culture and because it is surrounded by other splendid destinations known throughout the world. Marseille, Barcelona, La Goulette in Tunisia, Naples and Palermo are just some of the destinations in the Mediterranean that guests will be able to visit on board MSC Grandiosa, embarking from Livorno, for seven-night cruises.”
From an environmental point of view, MSC Grandiosa «has an innovative selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system – explains the company – which helps reduce nitrogen oxide by 80% through active emission control technology. The nitrogen oxide produced by the engine is led through a catalyst, a high-density device made of noble metals, and converted into harmless nitrogen and water. The ship is also equipped with a connection system to the local electricity grid which allows it to eliminate emissions when moored in ports where the infrastructure is present. This is a standard feature of all new MSC Cruises ships since 2017.”
The 75 calls of the Aponte family company are part of the 381 calls planned by Porto 2000 from January to December, one hundred more than last year. This, in short, will be the boom year for Livorno’s “love boats” and now, with the tourist season, we are entering the heart of things. L
Tags: year arrive Livorno Tyrrhenian Sea
