The 2025 cruise season in the ports of the Sardinia system concluded with the call at Arbatax of the Clio, a ship of the American company Grand Circle Cruise.
A total of 282 calls were recorded in the ports of the Sardinia System (12 more than 2024), with approximately 660,000 passengers in transit, to which are added about 35,000 who chose to depart and return from the ports of Cagliari and Olbia for a Mediterranean cruise.
Overall, compared to last year, the market recorded a 4.5% decrease (about 25,000 fewer units), determined mainly by a decrease of over 10 percent at the port of Cagliari (a decline due to itinerary changes for some large-capacity ships); at Golfo Aranci (which recorded 10 fewer calls compared to a 2024 that had seen Costa Cruises ships, initially destined for the White Island, diverted to the port) and at Oristano, for which no landings were recorded. This decrease was largely contained by a leap of plus 96 percent at the port of Olbia, which reaches the historical record of about 186,000 passengers. Porto Torres also performed well, with a plus 4 percent, and Arbatax, which doubles the traffic volume of small ships compared to last year.
“The cruise market thus confirms itself as a driver for tourism on the Island, especially for the months of low attendance and, in particular, considering the luxury and cultural segment, for ports with less infrastructural accessibility, but with great excursion potential,” noted the Port System Authority.
“The development of cultural cruising is proving to be an essential strength for the AdSP’s program, as indeed well represented today by the passengers of the American company who, departing from Arbatax, were able to visit the historical and landscape beauties of Ogliastra and Barbagia and, in particular, of Orgosolo, for a full enogastronomic and experiential immersion in nature. An activity of discovery and in-depth exploration of the more internal areas and traditions of the Island that, as highlighted by the tourist guides themselves who animated the day, thrilled the American clientele and which, therefore, represents one of the potentials that the AdSP, in concert with tour operators and the Municipalities themselves, will aim to develop extensively throughout the territory.”
Precisely to encourage dialogue and shared synergy with the territory on the sector, in 2026, two appointments of the Italian Cruise Day in Tour will be held in Arbatax and Porto Torres. “We can consider 2025 a year of substantial alignment of the market with the, still positive, trend of the three-year period,” explained Domenico Bagalà, President of the AdSP of the Sea of Sardinia: “The Sardinian port system is one capable of quickly compensating for market fluctuations thanks to an infrastructural and excursion offer that is unparalleled, able to meet the demand of the different segments of the sector. My goal, which starts from the essential premise of dialogue with local institutions and operators, is to create opportunities for fruitful discussion to generate strategies capable of definitively breaking down the seasonality gap, starting precisely from cultural cruises, whose purpose is precisely to go beyond the already known destinations by involving the largest number of territories, thus laying the foundations for a stable and lasting tourist market.”
