Given the geo-political challenges faced at this juncture, it will provide an opportunity to gauge trends and developments, as well as address the future of the region’s sea tourism and its recovery potential.
The Forum will be held at the Megaron Athens International Conference Centre on May 23-24 under the theme ‘Reinventing Cruising in the East Mediterranean.
‘The East Med is one of the key regions for Pullmantur Cruises’ deployment in Europe,’ said Vogel. ‘We plan to include more and new exclusive destinations such as Volos, that will bring closer the Meteora Monasteries - included in the UNESCO World Heritage List - to our guests and Nafplio from where our passengers will visit Epidaurus, Corinth and Mycenae. There is no doubt regarding the interest that Greece generates among our guests due to its cultural wealth, landscape, its beaches and its good weather.’
Pimentel added: ‘While we have scaled back on our Black Sea cruises as well as cruises that go to Turkey, Greece continues to be a popular destination for Azamara. Greece will continue to be on future itineraries and we routinely call at 10-12 different Greek ports each season.’
De Nardo agrees: ‘The recent cancellation of Greek cabotage restrictions allows us to actively look at new potential itineraries and opportunities in the area. With the support of local ground operators, we are keen to ensure that Silversea ships continue to visit this desirable region.’
Samos, Chania in Crete and Nafplio are the latest Greek destinations to join Celestyal Cruises’ Aegean itinerary, according to Celestyal’s Anastassiadis.
‘Four years ago we visited six harbours – this season we will sail to 15, and we will continue to develop new destinations to add to our itineraries. There are so many breathtaking destinations in the Aegean, and we will continue to bring our passengers to these incredible gems,’ he said.
Much needs to be done to increase cruise traffic to Greece and the region as the combination of Greek isles, Egypt and Israel has for the time-being fallen off the radar. Docekal commented: 'A resurrection of this destination combination would be to the benefit of the entire East Med region. Sadly, all three destinations continue to have their issues. We are slowly trying to rebuild the number of sailings in this region while carefully watching demand. Unfortunately, the demand for Greece has, at least, from my view, not grown to anywhere near where it was and where it should be. The magic of Greece requires renewed marketing efforts.’
Although the Eastern Med is not in its immediate plans, it is a part of our long term strategy noted Virgin Voyages’ Milan. ‘As a new entrant in the cruise market without a ship in the water, the Eastern Med is not important to us now. However, as our business scales and we increase our capacity, the Eastern Med will become an important region for us to consider deploying vessels.’
Major port associations and organisations have also confirmed their attendance at Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum 2017, among them Kristijan Pavić, president, MedCruise, Emre Sayın, ceo Global Ports Holding, Figen Ayan, vp, Istanbul Port Cruise Operations and Eleftherios Hadjizacharia, chairman of Cyprus Ports Authority.
Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. Seatrade, a trading name of Informa Markets (UK) Limited. Add Seatrade Cruise News to your Google News feed.
