Port of Bilbao Sets Cruise Record in 2026 with 233,236 Passengers

The Port of Bilbao closed its 2026 cruise season with a new record: 104 vessels called at the Getxo terminal between February 25 and October 27, nine more than in the previous season, carrying 233,236 cruise passengers, a 29% increase over 2025. The Port Authority estimated the economic impact generated by this activity in Bilbao, Getxo and the rest of the Basque Country at 34 million euros.

A total of 31 cruise lines chose the Port of Bilbao for a port call during the year, eleven of them for the first time, with the eight calls made by MSC standing out. The vessels that docked had lengths overall ranging from 104 to 344 meters, and nine of them stayed overnight in port. Three ships began or ended their voyage in Getxo: Hapag Lloyd's (TUI) Europa 2 and Oceania Cruises' Nautica and Marina. On six days, three vessels were in port at the same time, and on August 30 the embarkation and disembarkation of the Nautica added to the activity. Nearly half of the passengers came from the United Kingdom, followed by German and American cruise passengers.

According to the methodology used by Puertos del Estado, each cruise passenger generates around 146 euros in economic impact through spending on food and beverage, retail, transport and cultural activities, which applied to the season's 233,236 passengers amounts to the estimated 34 million euros, sustaining around 280 jobs, mainly in hospitality and retail. An additional nearly 11 million euros comes from crew spending. Over the past five years, between 2022 and 2026, more than 800,000 cruise passengers generated an economic impact of close to 120 million euros in the region. The Getxo terminal, operational since 2008, required an investment of 36.6 million euros, with a further 28.4 million euros allocated to the onshore power supply (OPS) system and its associated photovoltaic installation; cruise activity is not currently profitable on its own for the Port Authority, which is self-financed through its own revenues.

Despite the growth, the phenomenon does not translate into saturation: with around 0.10 cruise passengers per inhabitant in 2026, Bilbao remains one of Spain's cruise destinations with the lowest tourism pressure, compared to a national average of 0.57 cruise passengers per inhabitant in 2025 according to Puertos del Estado, or 0.22 excluding the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands and Barcelona. Furthermore, cruise passengers accounted for less than 5% of the 3.9 million travelers who stayed in hotels in the Basque Country in 2025, according to Eustat data.

The Port Authority is moving forward with the rollout of the Onshore Power Supply (OPS) system, which will allow cruise ships to connect to the shore power grid during their stay in port starting at the end of 2027, cutting CO2 emissions from each call by at least 85% and emissions of nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and particulate matter by around 95%. The project is funded by the European Commission, the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, and the EIB. Cruise Europe ranked Bilbao as the eighth most sustainable cruise destination among its member ports and the only one from southern Europe on that list, according to the 2026 GDS-Index, which places it 13th in the global ranking; the port is also a finalist for the IAPH sustainability awards alongside Oslo and Hamburg. The chairman of the Port Authority, Ivan Jimenez, warned that growth is not guaranteed, since cruise lines decide their ports of call two years in advance and compare costs between ports.