I’m one in a million today

Queen Elizabeth arrives in Lisbon today, and as luck would have it there’s a group of English travel writers in town this weekend, so I will be joining them for a quick look round. A visit to the city’s oceanarium – that’s got to be bigger than an aquarium, right? – and to a restaurant part-owned by John Malkovich are on the schedule.
I’m here at an opportune time. Figures released at the Seatrade Med convention this week in Cannes show that cruise visitors to Portugal are expected to reach a record one million this year.
Numbers had already reached 843,458 by the end of October, an increase of 12 per cent on 2009. By the end of the year, the number is expected to be up 15 per cent, from a total of 770 ship calls.
The ports included in the figures are the Azores, Porto-Leixoes, Lisbon, Funchal (Madeira) and Portimao.
There were 54 maiden calls, with 19 ships visiting Lisbon for the first time – including Queen Elizabeth in October – 16 maiden calls in Funchal and five each in Porto-Leixoes and the Azores.
But it would be sheer fantasy to expect that I will be greeted today by a local official bearing a sash carrying the words “Welcome to our 1 millionth visitor,” together with an appropriate selection of gifts and a return ticket I could use any time.
I can dream.