Valencia and Barcelona 'to limit and even BAN' mega cruise liners in backlash at tourists
Two of Spain's most popular holiday destinations are to limit and even BAN the arrival of massive cruise ships as the row over tourist saturation spreads across the country.
The mayor of Valencia says she wants to restrict the arrival of mega cruise ships from 2026.
And Barcelona city council is negotiating with the city's port to update the 2018 agreement to limit huge ships. In 2023, the port of Barcelona received 3.6 million tourists.
Both destinations say the move is vital to control the number of people who flock into the centre on a weekly basis, causing overcrowding and congestion. When several ships arrive on the same day, these numbers soar into their thousands.
"Floating cities are bad," said Valencia's mayor, María José Catalá. "We are reaching the limit."#
Barcelona's mayor, Jaume Collboni said he would not rule out eliminating some of the city's seven terminals and limiting cruise ship arrivals, following in the footsteps of other European locations such as Amsterdam, Venice and Mallorca.
Valencia's mayor said the current model of attracting mega cruise ships was not what the city wanted.
However, she stressed "the smaller and different profile cruises that generate wealth for the city will continue."
In Barcelona, when the last agreement with the port was signed in 2018, 2.6 million cruise passengers were registered.
In 2023, the port of Barcelona received 803 cruise ships with 3,568,000 passengers. The million increase has happened even though the terminals have been relocated to avoid city centre congestion.
Deputy mayor, Laia Bonet said the negotiations to update the 2018 agreement did not have a calendar but stressed that Barcelona city council and the port agreed on "the line of higher quality and not more quantity". These talks would "establish a limit" for cruise ships and cruise passengers".
Spokesperson for Barcelona en Comú, one of the opposition parties, Janet Sanz said: "It is hard to believe that Collboni now wants to limit the number of cruises. Two months ago we presented a proposal to a committee to limit the number of cruise passengers and the PSC voted against."
Valencia says the criteria that will be used to discern which cruise ships will be banned have not been defined but the city council anticipates this will be done based on their dimensions (length) or capacity.
The city is already taking other steps to cut back on tourist saturation, including a limit on tourist accommodation places, as it bids for "sustainable and quality tourism".
