The ports of Pisco, Ilo, Matarani and Salaverry have stopped receiving cruise ships in recent weeks as a result of social unrest and the road shots that are still affecting the country and especially the southern regions. The vessels avoided the maritime terminals and followed their courses, in several cases to Chile, according to what is shown by the records of the National Port Authority (APN) to which Peru21 had access.
One case was the Seabourn Quest cruise ship, with a capacity of at least 450 passengers and more than 300 crew members. Her arrival at the General San Martín Port Terminal in Pisco was scheduled for January 20. However, the boat canceled the arrival. Later, the same ship, which was scheduled to touch port at the Matarani Terminal on the 22nd of that month, again canceled its arrival and headed for Arica, Chile.
To this was added the case of the Silver Moon, which has capacity for almost 600 passengers and more than 400 crew members. The ship canceled her arrival in Pisco, which was scheduled for January 23. His fate of hers? Arica. Bamoral, from Callao, also canceled her arrival at the port of Matarani for February 1.
Likewise, there were ships that came from Arica and avoided stopping at the southern terminals, such as the Ms Europa, which canceled its arrival for January 13 at the ports of Ilo and Matarani. The port of Salaverry (La Libertad) also went through something similar, since the Sea Swan cruise ship, coming from Guayaquil, canceled her arrival for January 20 and went to Callao.
The president of the Chamber of Tourism and Foreign Trade of Paracas, Eduardo Jáuregui, held Parliament responsible for not accelerating the advancement of elections. “This is atrocious and it is practically the bankruptcy of tourism and hotel companies, especially small and medium-sized businesses because of the Congress of the Republic,” he said.
Cruises are also opportunities to reactivate tourism because, according to Jaúregui, visitors “spend US$100 per person, on average.”
“This is atrocious and it is practically the bankruptcy of tourism and hotel companies, especially small and medium-sized businesses because of the Congress of the Republic,” he told Peru21.
