Venice, start of the cruise season: fewer passengers but more luxury ships

Smaller ships, but the goal is to have tourism that stays for more days and an increasingly deseasonalised offer. These are the guidelines on which the 2026 cruise season in the ports of Venice and Chioggia is focused, which kicked off in full yesterday with the arrival of the Viking Star at Fusina.

The forecast data for 2026, explains a Vtp (Venice Passenger Terminal) note, foresee the arrival of a greater number of small and medium-sized ships, 'belonging to the high-end sector', which move fewer passengers and which, stopping for more days, 'favour slow, quality tourism'. In 2026 the two ports will see 543,000 passengers (between oceanic and river cruises) moving on the quays, a drop of 12% compared to 2025 "but with the same number of stopovers (366) and an increase in the number of companies (30 against the 27 of 2025) and ships berthed (55 against the 52 of 2025, of which 8 new ships will call at Venice for the first time)". While Msc did not confirm one of the three ships that called at Venice in 2025 (and in the two previous years).

In total, says Vtp, "calculating all the traffic received in the lagoon ports (both ocean and river cruises and hydrofoils), the number of passengers handled in 2026 will be 592,000 (664,000 in 2025). Overall, more than 90% of the companies that will touch the two ports "belong to the premium and luxury segment, made up of medium-small ships, less than 250 metres long, with the respective number of ports of call increasing by 10% compared to 2025, thanks also to the debut of the new operators Orient Express Sailing Yachts and Four Seasons Yachts, which will bring their luxury hotellerie model to newly built cruise yachts".

Vtp also registers a new trend: 'in 2026, 40 per cent of all planned high-end ship calls will involve stops for two or more days and in home port mode, which again this year will exceed 95 per cent of the total. The multi-day stop offers passengers the opportunity to better explore the destination and its hinterland". While another element to be recorded "is the tendency to deseasonalise also cruise flows; the landings, in fact, are gradually spreading throughout the year, with more than 50 thousand passengers and 33 stopovers planned in the low season, corresponding to a growth in movement of about 80% compared to the same period last year".