Cruise season begins in Colón with MSC Divina

The 2022-2023 cruise season began  Sunday,  with the arrival of the MSC Divina at the Colón 2000 port, from Cartagena, Colombia. The boat carries 2,835 tourists and 1,100 crew members.

For the month of October, the arrival of 8,000 cruise passengers at the Colon 2000 Cruise Port is expected, said  Michael Chen president of the Colon Chamber of Commerce.

It is estimated that the average consumption of each cruise passenger or tourist in the province of Colón will be between $100 and $150, causing a direct economic impact calculated between $500,000 and one million dollars each month, Chen said.

The arrival of ships from the companies Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruises, MSC Cruises, Norwegian Cruises, and Celebrity Cruises is expected on the calendar.

With this activity, it is planned to help boost the economy of Colon through traditional tourism, shopping tourism, and consumption in micro, small and medium businesses, through the special Colón Free Port system that encourages duty-free retail purchases in the 16 streets of the city of Colón.

Change in attitude
“This will help generate jobs, create businesses, and little by little help to minimize the high unemployment rate which, according to official figures, in Colón is higher than 12%.

A campaign is being promoted to bring about a positive change in attitude and way of thinking in the population of Colon, called “change begins with me” says Chen.

The National Police reported that through their personnel and other preventive devices they maintain security on the different routes in the province of Colón, before the start of the 2022 Cruise Season, in the Port of Colón, known as Home Port.