Cruise Tourism in Yucatán Soars to New Heights
(SEFOTUR).- From 1840 to 1900 ever since the appearance of new technologies applied to steam-powered navigation, this initial period marked the passage of transatlantic trips by migrant groups from the European to the American Continent along with the postal service between continents, developing better and larger ships to respond to great demand before the great wars.
FROM 1901 TO 1960. In this period, maritime services in Mexico changed to become military transport and after the wars, sea travel resumed, moving from elitist and selective cruise tourism to mass tourism, available to everyone and as a response to the appearance of flights. .
FROM 1961 TO THE PRESENT. Cruise trips with fixed return routes to the same embarkation site are popularized thanks to a United States television series. The accessibility of prices, and destinations, as well as technological advances in huge ships, make the industry rebound. As a result of the 2001 attacks in New York, shipping companies opened new ports along the Gulf of Mexico to make cruises accessible by land due to the fear of taking a plane. In 2008, the hurricane that hit the coast of Quintana Roo completely collapsed the Costa Maya pier in Majahual.
As a result, dozens of cruise ships were diverted to the Port of Progreso as an alternative to the cruises already booked and the historic figure of 148 cruises was achieved; However, in terms of the number of passengers, 2019 has the record with 470 thousand tourists aboard 146 ships.
The global pandemic suspended cruise travel operations around the world in 2020 and it was not until July 2021 that arrivals to Puerto Progreso resumed with an average occupancy percentage of 75%. Since 2022, the cruise industry has been growing and recovering lost ground with 29.7 million passengers achieved in 2019.
Source: “Cruise Tourism” UNWTO, 2008.
“Spatial organization of cruise tourism in Mexico”, Claudia Inés Martínez, 2011.
- Yucatan as a Cruise Destination
There are records of tourist boats arriving in Progreso since 1993, but it was after the opening of a cruise terminal in 2000 that the number of boats began to have a frequency all year round.
Puerto Progreso is located within the cruise route called the Western Caribbean.
The ships it receives as a destination come mostly from US ports such as Houston, Galveston, Mobile, and New Orleans, as well as a smaller number from Tampa, Miami, and Ft. Lauderdale in the state of Florida.
- Brief History of the Progreso Pier
Since its construction, the Progreso pier has represented a benchmark of economic importance for the state.
First, the 2 km tax dock was built between 1937 and 1941, then the remote terminal which was a 5 km extension of the Progreso dock built between 1984 and 1989 with a cruise terminal concessioned to the company SSA México in 2000, The 2.5 km long alternate dock for cargo relief was inaugurated in 2014.
Finally, in July 2023, Progreso was certified with the Guinness World Record as the longest pier in the world with its 8.08 km.
With information from SEFOTUR
TYT Newsroom
