The Canary Islands’ business community is once again showing a pronounced territorial and industrial divide at the sector’s major international maritime showcases. Barely a handful of archipelago-based firms have decided to step forward and sponsor Seatrade Cruise Med 2026, the most important cruise trade fair in the Mediterranean and the mid-Atlantic, which will be held on September 16 and 17 at the Turkish operation at the Cruise Terminal of the Port of Las Palmas. There are eight Canarian companies. Puertos de Las Palmas has raised the figure to 25 by including business associations, public companies and foreign-owned firms.
The event, which will bring together more than 2,000 professionals from 90 countries and 220 executives from the world’s leading cruise lines, has been presented by the institutions as a strategic milestone for the islands’ international profile. However, scrutiny of the private partnerships shows that local sponsorship rests almost exclusively with non-Canarian multinationals or the public sector, which has had to step in institutionally through the Government of the Canary Islands (Proexca and the regional company GMR Canarias/Volcanic Xperience), the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, the Cabildo de Lanzarote and various local councils, including those of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Arrecife and Puerto del Rosario.
Private entities supporting the event include traditional Gran Canarian brands from the agri-food and services industries, such as Tirma (through Café Isaza), Cervezas Pío Pío (UD Las Palmas), Destilerías Arehucas, Ahembo Pepsico and the Poema del Mar Aquarium, owned by Loro Parque but based in the La Luz complex. Cansegur, Elevaciones Archipiélago, Hospitales San Roque and Talleres Milán are also supporting the event.
Beatriz Calzada, president of the Las Palmas Port Authority, has defended the fair’s importance, saying that “it is a unique opportunity to show what we are and open the doors of our destination to the world,” in an attempt to highlight Gran Canaria’s ability to attract business, while the forum in fact exposes the isolation and fragmentation of the Canarian business community in high-level maritime diplomacy.
The article Only eight Canary Islands companies, one from Tenerife, back Seatrade Cruise Med in Las Palmas was first published on canarymaritime.com.
