Norwegian Cruise will operate until 2024, ATP defends

The Panama Tourist Authority (ATP) he said this friday that he is Norwegian cruise company “Operations with departures from Panama are for sale until December 2024,” after the maritime union criticized the official silence before the end of that operation.

“The Norwegian shipping company Cruise has confirmed that Panama remains one of the favorite home ports among its guests, especially for the experience of transiting through the Panama Canal, and that they are maintaining operations with departures from Panama until December 2024,” ATP wrote on their social media networks.

This same Friday, the Panama Chamber of Commerce expressed in a statement its “astonishment” at the “silence” of the ATP and the Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) “before the cancellation of itineraries that use Panama as a home port” or base port “by Norwegian Cruise Line ( NCL) Cruise Company, which also joined Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises, “combining a fleet of 28 ships.

The statement comes after a representative of the company assured the local media Norwegian Cruise Line canceled its home port for 2024 and 2025 with departures from Amador and Colón terminals, the reasons being unknown.

Sandy Cohen, owner of Columbia Tours, exclusive representative Norwegian Cruise Line for Panama and Central America, he commented that the itineraries planned for those years are no longer available.

In its statement, the Maritime Chamber recalls that last December it asked the authorities to address “indications and claims” of various cruise lines about “impacts related to the safety of boarding and disembarking passengers, the complexity of the immigration process, procedures and administrative costs”. and bunker supply limitations”.

“At that time it was imperative that the AMP (Panama Maritime Authority) and ATP (Panama Maritime Authority) authorities show initiative to avoid the recent NCL announcement,” they said.

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In 2021, the general manager of Panama Tourism Authority (ATP), Iván Eskildsen and legal representative of company NCL Bahamas LTD, Howard Sherman (Executive Vice President Onboard Revenue and Destination Services) have signed a cooperation agreement to establish NCL operations as a base port in Colón and Amador from March 2022.

This weekend, more than 4,000 tourists will disembark in Panama with the arrival of cruise ships Norwegian Jewel in Amador Port and Celebrity Constellation in Colón 2000 Cruise Port.

These tourists are estimated to leave the country with revenue of $2.2 million, taking into account that cruise ship passengers from the base port spend an average night in Panama, benefiting hotels, restaurants, shopping centers, transport companies, retailers and tour operators. , among others.

Figures from the Comptroller General of the Republic show that each baseport cruise passenger spends an estimated $315.00, while those in transit spend $150.00 on a visit to Panama.

In November and December, Panama received more cruise passengers than in 2019 (before the pandemic), according to official data and in terms of the total number of international tourists in the country, as of November 2022, the number of monthly international tourists before the pandemic recovered, reaching a total of 1 .9 million international visitors throughout 2022.