Brits top the list of Azores cruise ship visitors in 2018

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Last year saw record numbers of visitors from cruise ships to the Portuguese Islands of the Azores.

The British topped the list of visitors to the Azores for the seventh year running in 2018 representing 41% of total passengers. These were followed by US visitors (22%) and Germans (19.6%).

According to the figures from the port authority for the islands, Portos dos Açores the number of passengers disembarking at the islands was over 164,000, a 21.5% increase on 2017. In 2015 the Azores ports disembarked 142,000 visitors.

In 2018 cruise ships made 138 stopoffs at the islands, the second best year ever after 2017 which saw a record 152 visits from cruise ships.

The Portos dos Açores also highlights the fact that in 2018 there was a record number of crew members, with 74,000 visits (+17.5% on 2017) and 10% more than in 2015, the year in which 67,263 crew members set foot on the islands.

Last year the island of São Miguel had 75 stopoffs with 123,000 passengers (+24% on 2017). The island of Terceira had 24 stopoffs with around 24,000 passengers (+26% on 2017). The island of Faial saw 25 stopoffs and 16,000 passengers (+19.7% on 2017).