The Arrecife City Council is showcasing the advantages and attractions of Lanzarote as a base island for cruise tourism at the Seatrade Europe international fair taking place in Hamburg this week. This event, the largest of its kind in Europe, gathers cruise lines specializing in tourism, port authorities, cruise stations, and public institutions, all of which have strategically positioned ports within the growing cruise market.
This Wednesday morning, on the fair’s opening day, Arrecife’s mayor, Yonathan de León, along with the spokesperson for the People’s Party (PP) and Councillor for Tourism and Commerce, Eli Merino, held a working meeting with Fabian Nissen, Manager of Port Operations for Carnival Cruises, one of the world’s leading cruise lines.
According to a subsequent press release from the local government, the goal of the Arrecife authorities in this meeting is to encourage Carnival’s cruise lines to designate Arrecife port and Lanzarote island as a base port for their transatlantic cruises, which already make tourist circuits across the northern Atlantic, including the Canary Islands.
Carnival owns cruise lines such as Aida, Costa, and P&O, which are among those transporting the most passengers to the Canary Islands.
During this working meeting, the mayor of Arrecife and the Councillor for Tourism were accompanied by executives from Global Ports, the company granted the administrative concession for the two cruise terminals at Los Mármoles and Naos, which debuted in 2025 in Arrecife.
Arrecife Tops Cruise Calls for the New Season
Mayor Yonathan de León, the only public official from Lanzarote on the Board of the Port Authority of Las Palmas after the resignation of the current president of the Cabildo, Oswaldo Betancort, provided details that requests for cruise calls to Arrecife up to May 2026 indicate, according to data from the APLP, that the capital of Lanzarote will welcome 352 cruise ships, marking an 18% increase compared to the previous 2024/2025 season.
Indeed, this Sunday, 14th October, Arrecife will kick off the new autumn and winter cruise season with a visit from the British cruise ship Ventura, carrying over 2,000 passengers from southern England.
Eli Merino highlighted that Arrecife’s participation in last autumn’s WTV fair in London facilitated agreements with cruise lines to establish Arrecife as a base port, confirmed for the upcoming years 2026 and 2027 by the Italian-Swiss cruise line MSC Cruises.
The Councillor for Tourism emphasised that being designated a base port significantly increases the revenue generated from tourists travelling on cruises.
During the fair in Hamburg, Mayor Yonathan de León and Councillor Eli Merino gained insights into the predictions held by Puertos del Estado, which oversees Arrecife, regarding the cruise business, as presented at their stand at the Hamburg fair, which is held every two years. Following the 2023 meeting, cruise tourism figures in Europe have been expanding at double-digit rates, rebounding after the COVID pandemic.
The authorities from Arrecife have secured new agreements for collaboration and support for the Arrecife Cruise Terminal during a meeting held today in Hamburg with Francesc Grau, Regional Director of Global Ports, Dan García, Operations Director of Global Ports in the Canary Islands, and Susana Gutiérrez, Director of Cruise Terminals at the eastern Canary Islands ports, including Arrecife.
