Sea Tourism

This year 404 Greek beaches received Blue Flags, compared with 383 last year, placing Greece in second place among the 40 countries participating in the program. A total of 2,549 beaches around the world received Blue Flags, which means that for every six beaches Greece has one with a flag. Greek marinas, however, are not a strong point as only five were awarded Blue Flags out of a total of 638 worldwide.

AirSea Lines representatives last month announced plans to invest over 100 million euros for the acquisition of 30 seaplanes to service its existing and newly planned bases in Greece.

With numerous successes under its belt in organizing boat races, the island of Corfu once again took on the task of organizing and presenting the Panhellenic Inflatable Boat Races last month.

S Cruiseplan, said, “will give Greeks the opportunity to escape completely from their daily routine.”

EasyGroup, the holding company of Greek entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou, signed a letter of intent with the Greek shipyard, Neorion Holdings, for the construction of as many as four cruise ships for use by its low-cost cruise business easyCruise. The new 500-passenger cruise ships will help easyCruise introduce its successful business to the Greek islands.

Legislation to liberalize ferry ticket prices for third class fares and vehicles was signed by the Ministry of Merchant Marine, and includes ferries departing from the ports of Pireaus, Rafina, Lavrio, Kimi, to and from Elefsina, and from Patra to Kerkyra.

Last month, Louis Hellenic Cruises inaugurated the “Sea Diamond,” the latest cruise ship to join its fleet, with blessing of the ship followed with speeches by the Ministers of Tourism Develop and Merchant Marine, among others. The ceremony ended with the raising of the Greek flag on the ship’s stern.

Athens International Airport (AIA) and the Piraeus Port Authority (OLP), within the framework of further cargo development in Athens, signed an agreement last month for the development of a “sea-air” link between OLP and AIA.

Superfast owners Attica Holdings last month announced it concluded the sale and delivery of Superfast VII, Superfast VIII and Superfast IX to the AS Tallink Grupp in exchange for some 310 million euros in cash.

The biggest cruise ship in the world, “Freedom of the Seas,” constructed for Royal Caribbean International by Aker Finnyards Turku of Finland is complete and will sail on its first cruise on June 4.