Cruise ship “Grandeur of the Seas” will on Monday bring almost 2,000 international tourists to Cartagena, marking the beginning of the 2010-2011 cruise season.
Cartagena expects to see the arrival of 208 ships with almost 500,000 tourists who will leave $40 million in the region.
“Every year the Colombian Caribbean has been an inevitable destination for international cruises and Cartagena is constantly prepared to receive tourists. Last year, we received 218 cruises with 346,693 tourists,” the president of Proexport, Maria Claudia Lacouture said.
It is estimated that each traveller who descends from a cruise ship spends an average of $120 on taxis, restaurants, souvenirs and other services which boost the local economy.
The next stop of the ‘Grandeur of the Seas” will be Santa Marta.
Proexport says that this cruise season will run until May 2011.
