2,850 visitors arrived on the first cruise ship to reach the Colombian Caribbean city of Cartagena at the start of what promises to be a strong season.
A source for the Bogota Tourism Corporation Cartagena de Indias, informed newspaper El Espectador that of the 1,950 tourists aboard the Brisitsh run vessel, about 1,350 disembarked and left the local tradesmen and small businesses of the city with an estimated $150,000 – an encouraging start to the cruise season.
The next liner to make Cartagena its primary port of call will be the Spanish run ‘Ocean Dream’, from which an estimated 1.850 tourists will disembark on October 3.
About 369,000 tourists are expected to pass through Colombia’s number one destination, Cartagena de Indias, throughout the cruise season, which ends next June and will leave the city with approximately $30 million in revenue, claimed the source.
The Cartagena Tourism Corporation stated that the season should see the arrival and docking of about 193 cruise ships into the historic, colonial city.