Fernando Pacheco, managing director of MSC Cruises in Spain, announced yesterday that a possible tourism tax imposition in the Valencian Community, and in Valencia in particular, will have an economic “impact” for the company, but will not deter its operations. “The tourist tax does not condition our decision to put a boat in this or that city, and it never has,” he said.
The person in charge of the company stated that if the tax proposed by the partners of the Valencian government comes into effect (voluntary for the municipalities and between 0.5 and two euros per day), this cost will be borne by the tax office. freight company. “At MSC Cruises, we don’t pass local taxes on to passengers,” he said in an interview with Europa Press, collected by this newspaper. In fact, MSC Cruises’ director insists on the company’s commitment to the city of Valencia by boarding two company ships simultaneously in the Turia capital, for the first time in its history since MSC Seaside. Over the course of this summer, Bellisima, where the company plans to “double” the number of passengers arriving in Valencia in 2019, is 30,000.
Exceed 2019 data
“We don’t think we’ll just recover from the pandemic in Valencia, but we think we’ll get volumes much larger than what was done in 2019,” Pacheco said. In addition, he emphasized the company’s “support for the city” and valued its relationship with Valencia in aspects such as sponsorship of the Trinidad Alfonso Valencia Marathon or previously Valencia CF. When asked by citizens’ associations and political forces that advocate limiting cruise traffic in cities, he argues that MSC should “engage” with the cities in which it operates, both citizens and the environment.
Consider cruise passengers
“MSC Cruises would be pleased to set up working groups with governments and decide how many ships and what types of ships to put on board,” the representative added, but added that the company has received “incentives” from the Valencian business community to strengthen its operations. It conducted its operations in Valencia and requested that the weight of cruise passengers be weighed against the weight of tourists arriving by air or land, before deciding on regulations.
MSC Cruises, the world’s third largest cruise company and market leader in Europe, South America and South Africa, will for the first time in its history have two vessels with a loading port in the city of Túria. As part of its strategic plan for expansion in Spanish ports, the company has more than 400 planned stops and is based in Valencia, where it has docked for 15 years.