Sea Tourism

“The main reason Greece has failed to collect from cruises is the low use of Greek ports as homeports,” according to a recent study of the National Bank of Greece on cruise on a European and national level.

The number of passengers that disembarked on Greek cruise destinations from circular cruises that homeported in Greece continued to drop in 2011, according to a report presented during the sixth annual conference of the European Cruise Council (ECC) in Brussels.

Canadian Ambassador to Greece, Robert Peck, last month officially requested the immediate processing of necessary legislation and cutting of red tape for waterway investments to proceed in Greece and seaplanes to operate in Greek waters.

Kerry Anastassiadis, CEO of Louis Cruises, presented the cruise company’s new strategy at a special event held at the cruise passenger terminal at Akti Xaveriou for the launch of itineraries of the Louis Olympia from Piraeus in place of the Louis Majesty.

Greece once again ranked second place on the Blue Flag quality award list among 48 countries with seven beaches more compared to 2011, according to information provided recently by the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature.

Yacht reservations dropped some 30 percent in May only, compared with the same period in 2011, while the industry expected better results from last minute bookings, according to the general secretary of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), George Vernicos.

With Costa Cruises homeporting this summer in Heraklion (Crete), leading international cruise officials have expressed optimism in choosing the cruise destination as a homeport for non-European Union flag cruise ships now that the cabotage law has been lifted in Greece.

State protectionism is a stumbling block that discourages the potential growth of Greece’s sea tourism, according to heads of international cruise sector bodies, senior officials from Greece’s port authorities and cruising industry who attended the Cruise Update Seminar held on the sidelines of shipping trade event Posidonia 2012 last month.

The 23rd Posidonia International Shipping Exhibition held 4-8 June, displayed a positive image of Greece and sent a strong message to the world at large that Greek shipowning remains a strong position despite the downturn in global shipping and economic woes of southern Europe.

The Mytilene Marina, southern east area of the island of Lesvos, has been leased to Setur, the travel unit of Istanbul-based Koc Holding AS, after it won a government auction in Greece last month.