In 2015, cruise traffic in Italian ports is estimated at about 10.9 million passengers, up 5.4% year-over-year. Total cruise calls are estimated at 4,566, down roughly 2.3 percent.

The new predictions are in Speciale Crociere 2015, a publication dedicated to the analysis of the cruise sector in Italy, released by Risposte Turismo.

These data, the results of information gathered from 40 ports, represents 94% of cruise calls in Italy for 2014.

“With some interesting deployment choices made by the companies,” comments Francesco di Cesare, President of Risposte Turismo, “Italy will return, in 2015, to register increased traffic movements with respect to last year. Some examples are Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas with regular calls at Naples, Civitavecchia and La Spezia, MSC Crociere’s Preziosa and Divina operating in the west Mediterranean, and the novelty represented by Costa Mediterranea’s overnight in Trieste and MSC’s Magnifica in Brindisi.”

“First reflection, and then action,” continued di Cesare, “should be aimed at making sure that this recovery is consolidated in the coming years, allowing, and justifying, new investments both by the companies and the ports.”

On another note, traffic last year was down as 2014 closed with a -8.2% decrease in passengers, for a total of about 10.4 million passenger movements, the lowest figure since 2010.

The reduction also affected the number of cruise calls, which went from 5,159 in 2013 to 4,670 in 2014.

The study also showed that in 2014 only three Italian regions (Abruzzo, Basilicata and Molise), of the fifteen that face onto the sea, did not register any cruise traffic.