Cruises with national itineraries can be expected in Malaga from June

Cruise ships will finally make a return to Malaga Port in June, albeit only on domestic routes, according to the president of the Port Authority, Carlos Rubio. Now that the Junta de Andalucía has approved the safety protocols for ships with Spanish itineraries (international stopovers are still prohibited), cruise companies have shown an interest in operating through Malaga this summer, Rubio has said.

"The forecast is that by June we will see the first stopovers, initially with limited capacity and with all the security measures in place, but it's a start... a gradual return for an activity which is so important for this city, which in a normal year should bring more than 500,000 passengers," he said.

Despite the pressures to handle the pandemic response, Rubio praised the Junta's willingness to devise a protocol for cruise travel, calling Andalucía "a pioneer".

"Any cruise ship that has an exclusively national route can dock in Andalusian ports," he explained, pointing out that several companies are planning routes within Andalucía to showcase its "diversity", while others will include stops in Cartagena, Valencia and Barcelona.