2023 closed positively in terms of cruise ship calls to Greek ports.
Awaiting the data published by the Hellenic Ports Association every year, Theodoros Kontes, director of Majestic International Cruises, pointed out to “Naftemporiki” that last year was quite satisfactory, both in terms of cruises and marine tourism in general.
At the same time, the data so far looks very positive for this year as well.
“It was indeed an improved year after the devastating Covid-19 period of 2020 but also the resumption in 2021, with an annual increase, as expected, and perhaps approaching the results in passengers of the year 2019. If we refer to ship approaches, the improvement recorded was very impressive,” Kontes noted.
“In my opinion the main reasons are due to the majority of small and medium-sized ships that exist, but also that new expeditions, luxury cruisers, etc. as well as the reduced occupancy of large ships,” he explained.
He characterized the increased traffic in Piraeus, the largest port of the country, as noteworthy, while homeporting has also risen impressively.
Αs for 2024, the port of Piraeus remains strong and homeporting is expected to further improve, since of the approximately 1,000 scheduled approaches, approximately 770 will be homeporting. Of course, all these are predictions and will depend on the developments related to the conflicts, which may force the companies to change their planned routes.
