17 Seabourn Pursuit, Seabourn’s second purpose-built expedition ship, made its first call at the Port of Valencia in Spain on 11 September 2023. The milestone was celebrated with a traditional plaque exchange ceremony onboard. Francesca Antonelli, head of marketing and cruises of the Port Authority of Valencia, handed over the traditional socarrat – the Valencian terracotta tile designed with maritime motifs – to the ship’s captain, Stig Betten. The Port of Le Havre in northern France is seeing an increase in cruise turnarounds in its timetable for 2023-2024, with both Compagnie Française de Croisières and MSC Cruises adding more sailings from the port. During summer 2023, Compagnie Française de Croisières operated seven departures from Le Havre onboard its ship, Renaissance. The company will return to the port at the end of February 2024, with 18 full turnarounds planned for the 2024 season. MSC Cruises’ MSC Euribia resumes its weekly sailings to Le Havre from mid-October 2023, with 26 partial turnaround calls planned for the autumn/winter 20232024 season. Cruise brands Cunard, Rivages du Monde, Norwegian Cruise Line and Costa Cruises also offer opportunities to start a cruise from Le Havre. Turnarounds on the increase at Le Havre, France Cruise tourism generates record AUS $5.63 billion for Australia Australia’s cruise industry generated a record AUS $5.63 billion (US $3.6 billion) for the economy in the 2022-2023 financial year, according to a new economic impact assessment jointly commissioned by Cruise Lines International Association and the Australian Cruise Association. Cruise operations resumed in Australia in mid-2022, two years after the start of the Covid pandemic, bringing “significant economic impact” to every state and coastal territory. Statistics from The Value of Cruise Tourism economic impact assessment show that the total economic output was 22.1 per cent higher than in 2018-2019, the previous full year of cruise operations in Australia. Seabourn Pursuit makes maiden call at the Port of Valencia Photo: Unsplash/Jamie Davies Photo: Nicolas Gerk Photo: Seabourn MARKETWATCH
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