Port Bastia (Corsica Island, France) welcomed a double ship call with Star Clippers' Royal Clipper and Ritz-Carlton's Sea Cloud. Both tall-sailing ships docked side by side on Monday, June 6, in the heart of the port city.
2022 is a record year for Bastia with a total of 50 calls scheduled, most of which from luxury cruise lines with a variety of planned shore excursions, tailor-made for their passengers.
The Chamber of Commerce of Corsica, Port Authority of the Port of Bastia, has over the last two years developed a number of new slow tourism tours, notably in a European Project named R-ITINERA along with four other French & Italian partners.
The aim of R-ITINERA is to promote new immersive/sustainable ecotourism experiences, offering “Zero Emission Excursions” for the luxury cruise market in five different regions: Corsica, Liguria, Tuscany, Sardinia, and Var.
The R-ITINERA project is part of the European Interreg Italy France Maritime Programme 2020-2026, co-financed by the ERDF-European Regional Development Fund.
More globally, Corsica Ports is due to receive a total of 473 cruise ship calls in 2022, including 18 maiden calls and 4 new cruise companies, an increase of 135% over 2021 (+200 calls).