Cruise Greece Sets Tapping into Cruise Segment High on the Agenda by Maria Paravantes 30 January 2024 written by Maria Paravantes 30 January 2024 2 comments Share 0FacebookTwitterLinkedinWhatsappEmail 23 Greek Deputy Maritime Affairs & Insular Policy Minister Ioannis Pappas and Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni. As part of ongoing efforts to increase cruise passenger arrivals and cruise ship port calls, Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni met with Deputy Maritime Affairs & Insular Policy Minister Ioannis Pappas, Secretary General of Ports, Port Policy and Maritime Investments Evangelos Kyriazopoulos, and Tourism Secretary General Myron Flouris to discuss the country’s cruise strategy and policies. Protecting destinations while offering high quality tourism products and incorporating the cruise tourism segment topped the agenda. In this direction, officials discussed actions that include setting quotas, the imposition of special levies, and the launch of a berth allocation system. Additionally, the need for infrastructure upgrades at ports across the country in order for these to be able to cater to the needs of cruise passengers and meet the requirements of cruise ship port calls were also mentioned. Kefalogianni referred to the port of Piraeus, which broke all records in 2023, welcoming some 1.5 million cruise passengers compared to 880,000 in 2022. The minister said establishing and promoting the country’s largest port as a home port was a top priority as it would contribute significantly to the national economy. Lastly, the officials discussed the importance of the Observatory for Coastal and Marine Tourism in the Mediterranean, the first research station dedicated to measuring the sustainable development of coastal and maritime tourism across the Mediterranean as agreed in an MoU with UN Tourism (formerly known as the World Tourism Organization – UNWTO). The observatory, said Kefalogianni, will contribute to the formulation of the country’s cruise tourism policy. According to Honorary Union of Cruise Ship Owners & Associated Members (EEKFN) President Theodore Kontes, the cruise tourism segment in Greece is set to exceed pre-pandemic 2019 levels this year reaching 5.61 million arrivals and by 2025 reaching 5.8 million. Join the 15,000+ travel executives who read our newsletter Follow GTP Headlines on Google News to keep up to date with all the latest on tourism and travel in Greece. Share 0 FacebookTwitterLinkedinWhatsappEmail Maria Paravantes Chicago-born and raised, Maria Paravantes has over two decades of journalistic experience covering tourism and travel, gastronomy, arts, music and culture, economy and finance, politics, health and social issues for international press and media. She has worked for Reuters, The Telegraph, Huffington Post, Billboard Magazine, Time Out Athens, the Athens News, Odyssey Magazine and SETimes.com, among others. She has also served as Special Advisor to Greece’s minister of Foreign Affairs, and to the mayor of Athens on international press and media issues. Maria is currently a reporter, content and features writer for GTP Headlines. previous post Jet2: Greece 2024 Program Biggest Ever with 1.5m Seats on Sale next post Eurostat: AIA Among Top 10 EU Airports with Most Flights in 2023 You may also like Greece’s Hotel Market Sees Major Investments Over Four Months 5 February 2025 Greek Tourism Ministry Monitors Santorini Situation as Seismic Activity Continues 5 February 2025 Global Air Passenger Demand Reaches Record High in 2024, IATA Reports 5 February 2025 Greek PM Reassures Public About Santorini’s Ongoing Seismic Activity 5 February 2025 Milos: Ministry Suspends 5-star Hotel Construction Near Sarakiniko Beach 5 February 2025 ELIME and HELMEPA Join Forces for Safer, More Sustainable Greek Ports 5 February 2025 2 comments Kate Tiffany 1 July 2024 - 15:46 Sept 23 – Article praising impressive growth in Cruise product jan 24 – Article – Greeks set to tap into growing cruise sector April 24 – Article sea Tourism Forum – MSC and Chinese cruises doing what they can with new technologies. but basically saying let us grow Jun 24 – More praise for cruises June 24 – Article saying that Greeks are worried about destinations on route! and will cut numbers next summer. They secured the deals over the Winter, are happy to pressure destinations this Summer for the Income. I do not see any curbing of growth going to happen. just destinations put under pressure , hotels empty as they are all on board and stakeholders told they will benefit from the arrivals but have no say in the decision. Oh and most of the revenue going to America or China. Reply Clément 31 January 2024 - 16:46 Money, money, money… When more and more voices point the environmental issues that cruise ships create… And with main ports in Greece already saturated by visitors. Reply Leave a Comment Cancel Reply Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ
