Small drop possible in cruise market
Cruise tourism in Greece will not post an increase before 2015, the representative of the Association of Hellenic Tourism Enterprises (SETE) for the sector, Andreas Stylianopoulos, told Kathimerini.
He said talks with cruise lines for the 2015-17 period have been dominated by the potential for expanding their schedules to existing and new ports in the country.
Stylianopoulos, who also represents Royal Caribbean in Greece and three other destinations, noted that the number of cruise ships arriving at Greek ports will be lower this year due to the negative situation in parts of the eastern Mediterranean (Syria, Egypt etc). However, this does not necessarily mean that there will be fewer passengers as he also said that this would depend on the size of the cruise ships and their occupancy rates.
Mediterranean cruises are expected to take a 18.9 percent share of global schedules for the year, from 21.7 percent in 2013.
