Based on the confirmed reservations so far, the Port of Kotor will have 506 arrivals of ships from renowned global cruise companies with over 700,000 passengers this year, and the first arrivals of larger cruisers are expected in the second half of March, officially marking the beginning of the cruising season.
In the previous year, which was considered one of the more successful ones, there were 423 cruise ship arrivals, with 505,000 passengers, although around 12 arrivals were canceled in October and November due to bad weather conditions. Executive Director of the Port of Kotor, Ljubo Radović, said that this represents a significant increase of 17% compared to the previous year.
“All data and announcements for this year significantly exceed the previous one, but also 2019, which was the most successful since the Port of Kotor began providing services in international maritime traffic,” emphasized Radović.
On the other hand, Radović says, these numbers represent a great challenge that also requires a certain level of seriousness in terms of preparing the complete logistics because the Port of Kotor is the traffic hub through which the tourist product is delivered, concerning Kotor, the hinterland of Kotor, and Montenegro as a destination in general.
Radović emphasizes that with their previous experience, knowledge, and skills, they can absolutely meet these challenges, i.e., the increased number of cruise ship arrivals.
“This is because Kotor has the specificity of having three anchorage positions within the Boka Kotorska Bay. Experiences from previous years show that the way we manage the flows of disembarking passengers from cruise ships yields a highly functional result. This was particularly evident last year when the city of Kotor introduced a traffic control system and significantly reduced traffic congestion, which was one of the major criticisms of the entire system, with the expectation that the announced second phase of implementing that traffic will further relieve what is the first contact for passengers when they disembark from the ship,” said Radović.
