MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

First foreign cruise of the season arrives in Punta Arenas; business down 27%

“Prince Albert II” with 155 passengers

The first international cruise called this week in Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile, signalling the official beginning of the 2009/10 season which local tourist operators are anticipating is going to suffer a significant fall from the previous.

“Prince Albert II” with 155 passengers arrived in Punta Arenas from Puerto Natales and is the first of 61 international cruise calls anticipated for this season. The total number of visitors is estimated in 69.210 which is 27% less than the 95.000 of 2008/09.

However Eduardo Manzanares manager of Empresa Porturaria Austral which has the concession of Punta Arenas port said he was optimistic that the following season activity (2010/2011) “will be back to normal” and “hopefully the (Chilean) government will solve some problems regarding “landing” fees and other additional costs which have made Punta Arenas loose customers.

“The contraction is similar to that which will be experienced by Ushuaia in Argentina, because it’s the market situation. What is different and favours our neighbours are Antarctic cruises, most of which operate from Ushuaia”, said Manzanares.

This summer 26 international cruise vessels will be visiting Punta Arenas and Natales with 56 and 5 calls respectively.

Punta Arenas is also scheduled to receive 60 calls from Chilean flagged vessels transporting 6.740 passengers.