Venezuela prepares to welcome international cruise ships after 15-year absence

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro announced Thursday evening that he will welcome cruise ships from Europe to Venezuela’s Caribbean coast starting in 2023.

Maduro explained that his government has re-authorized the operation of cruise ships after a 15-year absence and assured that his country is preparing all the necessary services and infrastructure to offer a high-quality of said welcome.

The president stressed that his country is “open to the world” and assured that “Venezuela’s secret weapon for economic growth in the medium term is not oil or gas, but tourism.”

In this regard, Venezuelan Tourism Minister Alí Padrón stressed that this announcement “breaks the cellophane of the unilateral coercive measures of the United States, which for years prevented the arrival of cruise ships from Europe.”

Thousands of tourists from Germany, Spain, Belgium, France and Italy will arrive at the paradisiacal Caribbean coast of Margarita Island in the northeast of the country on cruise ships that will begin arriving in Venezuela next January 3.

The Venezuelan leader also announced that Venezuela and Russia will resume direct air service between Margarita Island and Moscow from October 1, with a frequency of five flights per week and 440 passengers per flight.

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