Tarragona (Spain Costa Daurada)

Tarragona is a port city located on Catalonia's Costa Daurada (northeastern Spain's coast, Mediterranean Sea) with population around 132,000. Costa Daurada ("Golden Coast") is named for the color of the sand when the sun is shining. Spain's Golden Coast is the area between Cunit (Baix Penedes) and Alcanar (Montsia).

Before the COVID crisis, in 2019, the Port (locode ESTAR) handled 63 cruise ship calls and ~128,000 passengers. Following the global crisis, in 2022 (April-November) the Port received ~70,000 cruise tourists (35 ship calls) arriving mainly on big-capacity liners from the fleets of major cruise companies like MSC, Costa, RCI-Royal Caribbean, Marella UK. Tarragona is also visited by smaller-sized ships and superyachts of ultra-premium travel brands like Windstar, Hapag-Lloyd, Phoenix Reisen, SeaDream. For season 2023, the Port had booked 50 cruise ship calls with estimated ~95,000 passengers.

In 2017, Port Tarragona and one of Europe's largest passenger shipping companies - Costa Cruises, signed a deal for homeporting here the 1700-passenger ship Costa neoRiviera in the period June 2 through September 22, 2017.

The seaport's proximity to Barcelona and the myriad of tourist attractions in and around the city make Tarragona an attractive and cheap homeport / departure port for Costa Crociere. The scheduled weekly departures plus 2 additional ship calls (by the 3780-passenger Costa Favolosa) resulted in ~470,00 cruise tourists to the port in season 2017. neoRiviera's departures were scheduled for the Fridays. The ship's Mediterranean itinerary included Savona, Porto Torres (Sardinia Island), Port Mahon (Menorca Island), Ibiza Island, Formentera Island and Palma de Mallorca (Majorca Island) on 7-day roundtrips from Tarragona.

In 2016, the cruise port handled 22 ship calls (100% increase over 2015). For season 2018, the port had booked 50 ship calls. In the period 2013-2019, the cruise port handled a total of 305,888 tourists.

Tarragona is in the western Mediterranean, southwest of Barcelona (~1-hour drive distance from Barcelona Airport). The city's archaeological museum has an exclusive collection of Roman statues. The remains of defensive walls and a Roman amphitheater are also in downtown, and a 2-tiered Roman aqueduct is close by. The 12th-century-built Tarragona Cathedral is famous for its Gothic facade. In close proximity to the city are the famous Costa Dorado beaches, the Salou Park Resort and PortAventura World (entertainment resort and an amusement park, one of Europe's largest).

Tarragona is home to a comparatively large seaport and the internationally recognized Rovira i Virgili University. Much of the city's economy is based on chemical industries (situated to the south) and tourism. Among the most popular annual events that attract thousands of international and domestic tourists is the Santa Tecla Festival. In downtown can be found numerous small restaurants, live-music bars, cosy cafes (serving sandwiches, tapas, local seafood, traditional Catalonian dishes). El Serrallo's neighborhood (at the harbor) is specialized in seafood cuisine.

On December 3, 2021, was officially inaugurated the new cruise ship berth Balears Wharf. The special ceremony was attended by Pau Ricoma (Tarragona's Mayor), Francisco Toledo (State Ports Authority's President), Josep Maria Cruset (Port Tarragona's President), Jordi Puignero (Catalonia's Vice-President and Minister of Digital Policies and Public Administration), Teresa Cunillera (Delegate of the Spanish Government in Catalonia).

In February 2022, Tarragona Port Authority signed with GPH-Global Ports Holding Plc a 12-year concession deal, (with an optional 6-year extension) to manage the port's cruise services. Under the Global Ports-Tarragona contract's terms, GPH will invest up to EUR 5,5 million (USD 6,3M) into building a new cruise terminal with dedicated bus parking and car parking areas. The facility (planned for inauguration in 2023-Q2) will utilize solar power (for its energy needs) and provide retail shopping and food and beverage opportunities. The terminal's modular design provides flexibility for adapting the facility for future expansions. During no-ship days, the new terminal will double as event space, hosting concerts, art exhibitions, conferences, etc. As of 2022, GPH (the world's largest cruise port management company) operates/manages 23 seaports.

In January 2023, Tarragona Cruise Port signed a homeporting agreement with MSC for a total of 26 roundtrips from Tarragona (embarkation/debarkation port) scheduled in 2023 for the ship MSC Magnifica. The 7-day roundtrip itinerary from Tarragona visited France (Toulon), Italy (Genoa, Civitavecchia/Rome, Livorno/Florence-Pisa), and Spain (Valencia).

Tarragona cruise terminal