For the first time, Madeira has been nominated in the ‘Best European Cruise Destination’ category at the ‘World Cruise Awards.’ Other contenders include, Athens, Barcelona, Croatia, Kotor (Montenegro), Lisbon, London, Monaco, Nice Costa D’Azur, Oslo and Rome.
For Rui Barreto, the Regional Secretary for the Economy, the ‘World Cruise Awards’ aim to recognise, reward and celebrate excellence in the global cruise sector. On hearing the news, he said, “for this reason, the appointment alone makes us deeply satisfied, as it is the recognition of the work carried out in the region, in favour of cruise tourism, which has allowed Madeira to occupy a prominent place at national level in terms of the number of stopovers, as well as passengers.”
Paula Cabaço, Chairman of the Board of Directors of APRAM, recalls that the last two years were “difficult for the cruise industry, due to the pandemic, but simultaneously they were guided by a great spirit of union and dialogue between all partners in the sector, which made possible an effective resumption of activity in our ports from October of last year.”
It should be noted that the Port of Funchal was, in 2021, the leading national port in the movement of stopovers by cruise ships, registering 113 stopovers, 114,767 passengers and 70,815 crew.
In the high season, which started in October and ended last May, the Ports of Madeira registered 294 stopovers, 17 more than in the comparable season of 2018-2019, and 273,699 passengers, a number that has not yet pre-pandemic numbers, due to the constraints imposed by the companies themselves.
The ‘World Cruise Awards’ were awarded for the first time last year. The event is considered a “sister” of the ‘World Travel Awards’, created in 1993 and considered the “Oscars of Tourism,” where Madeira has already won the award for “Best Island Destination in Europe” eight times, and the “Best Island Destination in the World award seven times.”
Voting is open until the 7th of August, and to vote for Madeira please access the following link: https://worldcruiseawards.com/award/europe-best-cruise-destination/2022 .
