Sea Tourism

Piraeus Port saw a 24 percent decrease in passenger traffic as recent data showed that 84,274 cruise passengers boarded from Piraues Port during the first five months of 2009 against 111,559 passengers in 2008.

Celebrity Cruises, known for its excellent style and design, recently presented a series of new design changes to the Celebrity Millennium cruise ship, which was revamped in May and cost a total of $ 10 million.

Greece this year was awarded blue flags for 425 beaches and eight marinas, according to a recent announcement by the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature. Last year 430 Greek beaches were awarded blue flags.

easyCruise recently announced that it is now available on Amadeus Cruise, an innovative and unique Graphical User Interface booking tool, as it actively targets the travel agency distribution channel to shift the balance towards industry sales.

Cruisexperts Hellas organized a presentation of the Costa Luminosa, the thirteenth ship in the fleet of Italy-based Costa Cruises, which had docked in the Piraeus Port last month.

The Association of Passenger Ship Owners recently requested the immediate suspension of user charges at ports (port taxes) and the elimination of third party taxes.

The president of the Hellenic Professional Yacht Owners Association (EPEST), Antonis Stelliatos, recently said marine tourism would suffer a 50 percent or more drop this year.

The Association of Passenger Ship Owners recently requested from the tourism ministry a solution for the upgrading of legislation to allow foreign-flag cruise ships to use Greece as a homeport.

The Association of Passenger Ship Owners recently requested the development of port infrastructure for cruise ships in the area between the Peace and Friendship Stadium and Faliriko Delta.

The Ministry of Mercantile Marine, The Aegean and Island Policy recently granted permission for the operation of waterways for seaplane flights in Magnesia.