How to grow cruise and ferry traffic, optimize the management of passengers by sea and identify new initiatives to reduce the environmental impact. These and other issues, extremely useful for the insights conducted within the LASTING project, were at the center of the First Summit of the Presidents of the Adriatic ports, an unprecedented moment of confrontation between the top figures of the ports and national trade associations held Thursday 4 May in Dubrovnik as part of the opening day of the sixth edition of the Adriatic Sea Forum – cruise, ferry, sail & yacht, conceived and organized by Risposte Turismo, this year in partnership with the Dubrovnik Port Authority, Assoporti and the City of Dubrovnik.
The sixth edition of the Adriatic Sea Forum was the setting for the presentation of the new edition of the Adriatic Sea Tourism Report, the research report edited by Rispose Turismo which, since 2013, has analyzed the flows, dimensions, nature and directions of tourist movements by sea in the Adriatic.
From the first advances provided, Italy at the end of 2022 confirmed itself as the first nation in the area for the number of cruise passengers handled (1.5 million), ahead of Croatia (almost 900,000) and Greece (about 533,000). Croatia, on the other hand, is in first place for the number of ship calls (974), ahead of Italy (944) and Montenegro (441), a result linked to a significant number of approaches of vessels with reduced passenger capacity.
The podium of the ranking of Adriatic ports sees Corfu in first place at the end of 2022, with over half a million passengers handled (+125% on 2021) and 392 ship calls. On the remaining steps of the podium Trieste, with almost 425,000 passengers handled (+216% on 2021) and 183 ship calls and Kotor, with 418,000 cruise passengers handled (+4,500% on 2021) and 432 calls. Bari and Dubrovnik close the top five with, respectively, almost 411,000 and over 377,000 cruise passengers (+95% and +242% on 2021) and 185 and 314 ship calls.
Positive results also for the ferries, hydrofoils and catamarans sector which, in 2022, recorded an increase in traffic of +27% on 2021 with 18 million passengers handled (against 14 million in 2021) and 72,000 ship calls (against 61,000 of 2021), despite recording an 11% decrease compared to the pre-pandemic year.
Croatia confirms itself as the main country for tourist flows via ferry, concentrating over 50% of passengers in 2022 (9 million, +20.7% on 2021) and 52% of ship calls (over 37,791, +10.1 % on 2021) followed by Greece (4.5 million, +27% on 2021) and Italy (2.8 million, +33.6% on 2021)
As far as ports are concerned, Spalato closed 2022 in first place with 4.8 million passenger movements (+25% on 2021), followed at a distance by Igoumenitsa, which recorded 2.5 million passenger movements (+40%) and Zadar, with 2.45 million passengers handled (+11% on 2021), with Bari confirming its position as the first port for passengers handled on international routes (over one million, 100%).
Moving on to the nautical sector, the Risposte Turismo analysis mapped 341 marinas, once again confirming Italy's leadership both in terms of number of facilities (192) and number of berths (over 49,000), ahead of Croatia (126 marinas and over 20,700 berths) and Montenegro (8 marinas and 3,550 berths).
Overall, Italy and Croatia host over 93% of the structures identified by Risposte Turismo and 87.6% of the total offer of berths in the Adriatic, equal to just under 80,000 berths. The record for number of berths per marina goes to Montenegro with 444 berths, followed by Greece with 441 and Slovenia with 440.
The 2023 report also contains a new focus on the Adriatic's capacity to accommodate large superyachts. 24 structures for 125 berths for yachts over 50 meters have been mapped in the Adriatic. Montenegro is the leader among the Adriatic countries with 71 berths, followed by Italy (30) and Croatia (24).
Source: https://www.economiadelmare.org