North American and Asian source markets important for East Med cruising

According to Ukko Metsola, vp, government relations, Europe and Asia-Pacific, Royal Caribbean Cruises, the absolute number of cruise travelers sourced from Asia has nearly tripled since 2012 and this presents East Med with a great growth opportunity.

'Asia is the world's fastest growing market and China is the main driver of the continent's outbound tourism market with an estimated annual 120m Chinese tourists flooding global destinations each year,' he said.

'With 2018 earmarked as the European Union - China tourism year, the opportunity for Eastern Mediterranean to position itself as a key cruise destination for Chinese tourists is today more important than ever before,' he added.

Innovative marketing could hold the answers to many of the challenges stifling the East Med region’s growth as the adverse geopolitical conditions continue unabated according to Erkunt Oner, from Turkey’s Tourism Investors Association.

He proposed the launch of a Cruise Aegean Forum selling the joint Greece-Turkey cruise product under the thematic umbrella of the four wonders of the world that would be of particular appeal to North America cruise guests as indeed would be the labelling of the region to Mid or Central Med to help battle misconceptions about the region’s proximity to the Middle East.

The importance of North American cruise visitors for the viability of the region’s cruise sector was highlighted during the presentation of Dr Yiannis Paraschis, ceo of Athens International Airport S.A.

'In the first quarter of this year, AIA welcomed some 200,000 cruise travelers, most of whom came from the US and Canada. Thanks to a combined annual air capacity of 773,000 seats, connectivity between Athens and these markets today is the best it has ever been this century.'