RISPOSTE TURISMO: The 2014 edition of the Adriatic Sea Tourism Report, a publication dedicated to the analysis of maritime tourism movements in the Adriatic area (cruise, ferry and boating), has been presented.
There were over than 5.2 million cruise passenger movements in 2013 in the Adriatic and about 17 million ferry passengers.
For 2014 there is expected to be a reduction in cruise traffic in the area of 13% and a growth of 2.1% in ferry passengers.
More than 300 tourist marinas have been identified in the area for a total of approximately 77 thousand berths.
There were over than 5.2 million cruise passenger movements in 2013 (+4.6% compared to 2012) and an estimated reduction for 2014 of 13%. In addition, there were approximately 17 million ferry passengers (-0.9% compared to 2012) with a forecast growth for 2014 of 2.1%, and more than 300 tourist marinas have been identified for a total of approximately 77 thousand berths.
These, in a nutshell, are the statistics of the Adriatic Sea Tourism Report 2014, the research report realised by Risposte Turismo – research and consulting company serving the tourism industry – that analyses the flows, dimensions, directions and behaviour of maritime tourism movements in the Adriatic area (cruise, ferry and boating) that affect the seven countries that face onto the Adriatic Sea.
More in particular, as regards cruise traffic in the over 20 active ports in the Adriatic, in 2013 Venice topped the ranking with approximately 1.8 million passengers (or 34.8% of the total for the area) and 548 cruise calls (17.2% of the total), followed by Dubrovnik with slightly more than 1 million passenger movements (20.8% of the total) and 692 cruise calls (21.7% of the total) and Corfu, with about 744 thousand passenger movements and 480 cruise calls, or 14.3% and 15% respectively of the total registered.
The concentration of cruise traffic in the Adriatic area sees the top 3 ports moving about 70% of the total, a percentage that rises to 87.6% if the number of ports is extended to 5 and 97.7% if the top ten ports are taken into consideration.
If cruise traffic by country is examined, in 2013 Italy was in first place with 2.7 million passengers moved (51.8%), followed by Croatia (about 1.3 million, or 26.5% of the total) and Greece (about 750 thousand passengers moved, or 14.4% of the total).
Early forecasts for 2014 compiled by Risposte Turismo with data received from 11 ports (Ancona, Brindisi, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Koper, Opatija, Pula, Ravenna, Trieste, Venice and Zadar) representing 77.3% of passengers moved in 2013, show an estimated reduction of about 13%.
This forecast is in line with the decrease expected in the whole of the Mediterranean, mainly due to the fact that some ships have moved to other areas of the world cruise map.
With regard to ferries the study contains an analysis of passenger movements and calls of more than 40 ports in the Adriatic.
In 2013 the passengers moved by the facilities of these ports were approximately 17 million, a slight decline (0.9%) compared to volumes recorded in 2012 for the ports taken into consideration. A similar reduction was highlighted by the report for the calls that affected these ports: in 2013 there were approximately 81 thousand ferry, hydrofoils and fast catamarans calls.
The ranking of the 10 ports affected by ferry traffic sees Split (Croatia) in first place with over 4 million passengers moved and 14,882 calls followed by Igoumenitsa (Greece) with about 2.5 million passengers and 10,811 calls and Zadar (Croatia) with about 2.4 million passengers moved and 17,000 calls.
Bari is the first of the Italian ports, followed by Ancona, both with slightly more than 1 million passengers moved, with 1,582 and 2,697 calls respectively.
It should be noted that in 2013 the top 3 ports represented 52.6% of the total passenger traffic, a percentage that rises to 68.3% if the top 5 ports are considered and 89.1% if the first 10 ports are taken into consideration.
Still in the ferry sector, at the level of individual countries facing onto the Adriatic Sea the report realised by Risposte Turismo highlights the leadership of Croatia in 2013 thanks to about 7.8 million passengers moved (46.4% of total traffic) and 43,961 calls (54.2% of the total calls registered).
Behind Croatia is Greece -only considering the ports of Corfu and Igoumenitsa at the Adriatic border-, with about 4.8 million passengers moved (28.3% of the total) and 27,894 calls (34.4% of the total), and Italy, in third place with about 3.2 million passengers moved (19% of the total) and 7,539 calls.
In addition to ferries and cruises the Adriatic Sea Tourism Report also takes into consideration the boating sector. In this context the 2014 edition of the report continued with the survey started last year on the existing port facilities and on the operators active in the territory, managing to map 323 marinas in the area and approximately 77 thousand berths, with an average of about 240 berths per marina.
Of the countries facing onto the Adriatic Sea Italy has the largest number of marinas (180, or 55.7% of the total) and berths (47,298 or 61.5% of the total).
Still in the boating sector, the report also contains forecasts for 2014 relating to the business trends of a sample of 52 marinas and 20 Adriatic charter companies.
Both of the samples showed encouraging signs of optimism, forecasting a mostly stable or positive trend for the current year.
More in particular, as regards the marinas, 54% of respondents expect stability in the value of clients, while 27% expect an increase.
Whereas with reference to the charter companies surveyed, the report highlights the strong growth expected in 2014 with regard to the clientele of sailing boats (+56%), confirming the growth seen in 2013 compared with 2012 (+69%).
The Adriatic Sea Tourism Report 2014 (download on www.adriaticseaforum.com) was presented this morning by Francesco di Cesare – President of Risposte Turismo – on the occasion of the 3rd ADRIPLAN Stakeholders Workshop taking place in Trieste, a project co-financed by DG MARE of the European Commission dedicated to Adriatic and Ionian maritime spatial PLANning.
The Adriatic Sea Tourism Report was launched last year in Trieste on the occasion of the first edition of the Adriatic Sea Forum - cruise, ferry, sail & yacht, an itinerant international event dedicated to marine tourism in the Adriatic.
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