According to the public company Portos dos Açores, the archipelago recorded “the best first half” of this year in the cruise tourism sector “by surpassing the record number of passengers reached in 2018 with 113 thousand people and stopovers, verified in 2022”.

Compared to the same period of 2022, the data registered, in the first six months of this year, represented a growth of around 69% in terms of number of passengers, from 68 thousand to 115 thousand.

The number of cruise ships also registered a growth of 17%, that is, from 113 to 132 ships, which is justified by the "attractiveness of the destination, the positioning on the Atlantic routes and the increasing affirmation of expedition cruises" , according to the company Portos dos Açores.

"April was the month in which the Azorean ports recorded the highest number of stopovers, a total of 57, although May, with 45, also took on particular prominence", adds the company.

In the first half of 2023, 15 cruise ships made maiden visits to the Azores.

Portos dos Açores estimates that, by the end of the year, there will be another 72 stopovers, which should move more than 55,000 visitors to the archipelago.