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For the eighth consecutive year, Superfast Ferries held the leading position for the transportation of passengers and freight units on the Greece-Italy route in the Adriatic Sea. Last year, the company’s market share for passengers was 24.2%, for freight units 21.7% and for private vehicles 22%.

Aegean Speed Lines, founded last year by the Eugenides Group and the British company Sea Containers, announced last month that it would refund within 30 days any ticket lost by a customer, provided the lost ticket has not been used.

Louis Cruise Lines last month announced the delivery of the latest addition to its fleet, the 1,250-passenger cruise ship Sea Diamond (ex-Birka Princess). After its planned upgrading, the Sea Diamond this month begins 3- and 4-day cruises from Piraeus on behalf of Louis Hellenic Cruises. The acquisition of “Sea Diamond” is part of Louis Cruise Lines’ strategy for the renewal of its fleet and the constant upgrading of the products and services it provides.

Chinese investors intend to create a theme park in Athens featuring cultural elements from their country, according to a report in the financial daily Kathimerini.

Investment in Greece’s tourism industry is projected to rise by an average annual rate of 5.4 percent until 2016, according to a study by the World Travel & Tourism Council. The study’s authors also estimated that the Greek tourism industry uses a mere 15% of its potential.

Nature, sea, culture and city tourism are the four pillars on which the effort of the Tourism Development Ministry to enrich the Greek tourism product rests, said the ministry’s special secretary, Haris Kokkosis, during the 2nd International Meetings Industry Conference (IMIC 2006), on “Marketing Destinations and their Venues,” held here last month.

Piraeus soon welcomes yet another cruise ship to its port. Louis Cruise Lines last month signed a $35-million deal for the purchase of the Birka Princess from the Finnish cruise line Birka. The new addition will bring the group’s fleet up to 12, of which four fly the Greek flag. As of April, the vessel will execute three- and four-day cruises from Piraeus.

Attica Holdings (Superfast and Blue Star Ferries) last month announced the sale of 9.6m shares, or 12.3% of the share capital, of Hellenic Seaways, to Amadeus Navigation in return for 21m euros, which amounts to 2.20 euros per share. These shares represent the total investment of Attica in Hellenic Seaways held since January 2005.

As we go to press, shareholders of Nel-Lesvos Maritime are being asked to back a 23-million capital increase that will be used in part to acquire five used vessels. Two of the vessels are passenger ferries with Cypriot flags and three are ro-ro vessels under the Greek flag.

A new international airport costing more than 1 billion euros will be built on Crete, according to a government announcement. The new airport will be able to serve 5,000 holidaymakers at a time and will also serve as a transport hub for air cargo in the eastern Mediterranean.