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| The young Bajaj taxi drivers took advantage of the passage of the liner. |
Cruise ships have been jostling at the gate since last November. The 2023-2024 tourist season in the Diana region is off to a flying start.
The crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is definitely a thing of the past, all the indicators are green for 2024 to be a historic year. Even if tourist attendance does not reach that of 2019, the reference year. According to the explanations of technicians from the tourist office, the 2023-2024 cruise season is promising.
“The start of the year is exceptional,” says Francis Befourouack, former president of the board of directors of the Antsiranana regional tourism office, with supporting figures.
From November 28 to December 31, 2023, there were fifteen touchdowns which took on board 9,039 cruise passengers of different nationalities. Then, since the start of 2024, the tourist office has recorded eleven cruise ship stopovers and the northern capital has welcomed 7,140 wealthy tourists who crisscrossed the city for seven to eight hours. Some boats having transited through Nosy Be are not included and the same for those who prefer Nosy Hara, without passing through the port of Antsiranana.
Due to the weather, two stopovers were canceled on January 4 and 18. Among them, the Aida Blu ship is the largest because each rotation it takes on board more than two thousand passengers. While the smallest Jacques Cartier only had one hundred and twenty passengers on board.
These day visitors were able to discover the sites and major tourist attractions of these destinations, whether land or sea. In addition, other passages will appear in the program of these floating buildings until March, not to mention other liners like MSC Norwegian.
The arrival of a cruise ship of this size remains a significant event for the region, whose tourist vocation is growing from year to year. These stopovers have significant economic benefits for city traders, port authorities, tourist guides, craftsmen and incoming tour operators.
Nevertheless, some accommodation establishments are more or less satisfied with the fallout, but catering establishments have not yet recovered. On the other hand, tourist sites have benefited from it since they have already reached ten thousand visitors, such as that of Tsingy Rouge in Antsiranana-II.
Raheriniaina