More than 150.000 cruise travelers have visited the port of Piraeus between January and March 2011, marking a spectacular rise of 58,1% compared to last year’s data regarding the same period.
Other major destinations like Rhodes, Santorini, Katakolon, Corfu have also received much more passengers than last year, with unofficial estimates ranging between 20% and 30% compared to the same trimester of 2010.
Estimates for the summer period are also very optimistic. The port of Piraeus is scheduled to receive more than 7 cruise ships (at least 20.000 passengers) in some days during the high season of July – August. Ports of Santorini, Rhodes and Mykonos will also have busy time and local authorities have been preparing to deal with it.
The Greek government has recently lowered taxes and fees for cruise ships, but the rise in cruise ship arrivals is also a product of the unrest in North African countries that redirected cruise routes to the north of the Mediterranean Sea.
This rise is going to give a very much needed bust to Greek tourism, the sole reliable industry in the country. It is estimated that the lowest spending per cruise traveler in Greek soil is 50 euros.
Source: "Imerisia", To Vima"
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