MESSINA – Among the tourism data in Messina, obviously, those exclusively related to cruise tourism stand out. They were presented during the press conference by the head of Institutional Affairs of the Port System Authority of the Strait of Messina, Cristiana Laura. The report presented referred to seven years: it started from 2019, also maintaining 2020 (year of the pandemic and closures), and then moving on to the following three years and projecting to the current 2024 and up to the forecasts for the next 2025.
Ships on the rise
And we start from the number of cruise ships: in 2019 there were 170. Then the closures due to the pandemic, with only 19 ships in all of 2020, and the difficult recovery of tourism, which saw just 71 cruises dock in Messina in 2021 From 2022 it then went back up, going from 209 to 212 last year and up to the 234 expected for this year. There will be 253 in 2025 and this will lead to an increase of 8.1% compared to 2024, when a growth of 10.4% was already recorded compared to the previous year.
750 thousand arrivals expected in 2025
From here we move on to the most important data and the question: “How many cruise passengers arrive in Messina?” Well, going in order, there were 422,732 in 2019. Then 14,917 in 2020, 156,322 in 2021, 387,898 in 2022. But a surge has been recorded since 2023, with 526,034 passengers, which will be 640,191 in 2024 (+21, 7%) and 751,671 expected for 2025 (+17.4%). Important data if we also look at the number of landings and embarkations to and from Messina in 2023. There were 13,849 and 14,446 respectively.
Cruise passengers in Taormina? “66% stay in the city”
Dr. Laurà, in presenting the numbers, also underlined how the ship occupancy rate in 2023 was 93% but above all how 66% of those arriving on cruise ships stayed in the city: “I can also tell you that 66% %, i.e. 348 thousand passengers, certainly remains in the city. And even those who go to Taormina or Etna then return to the city and take a walk before getting back on board. Buses for excursions into the city have increased. It is said that they always bring tourists to Taormina? It is not so”.
