Record cruise umbers for Marseille

The French Mediterranean port of Marseille recorded a record year in 2008 for cruise passengers. Passenger figures for the year, both ferry and cruise, rose to 2.04m, with cruise passenger figures jumping by 25% to a new high of 539,000 to outweigh a seven per cent fall in ferry passengers. 

The increase in cruise passengers was the result of extra calls being made by regular callers at Marseille and new business coming from Germany’s AIDA. The cruise passenger figures included a 29% increase in passengers embarking and a 24% rise in transit throughput. The seven per cent drop in ferry passengers, to 1.5m, reflected stable performances for Corsica (859,000) and Tunisia (255,000), but a 20% decline for Algeria (364,000), mainly due to tightened Customs controls. Sphere: Related Content