Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni held a meeting with top officials to strengthen the cruise sector in Greece. The aim is to upgrade port infrastructure and develop tourism policies for sustainable tourism development in the Mediterranean.
At the initiative of the Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni, a meeting on the strategy and policies in the cruise sector was held with the Deputy Minister of Merchant Shipping and Island Policy Ioannis Pappas, the Secretary General of Shipping and Ports Evangelos Kyriazopoulos and the Secretary General of Tourism Policy and Development Myronas Flouris.
At the meeting it was stressed that at a strategic level, Greece must be a destination for high quality tourism. In particular, the Greek cruise market requires a product compatible with the uniqueness and diversity of the Greek islands, in order to maintain and preserve their uniqueness and specificity.
On the other hand, with regard to the further development of tourism on the islands and the support of island, the importance of upgrading the port infrastructure as a whole and specifically for cruise as well as the further upgrading of the services of the country’s ports was highlighted.
During the discussions, a special reference was made to the importance of the promotion of Piraeus as a home port, with all the positive consequences of the economies of scale that are created. It was also agreed that in the immediate future, among other issues, initiatives should be developed on issues relating to quotas, the imposition of fees and the berth allocation system.
Finally, the role of the Observatory for Coastal and Marine Tourism in the Mediterranean, recently established by the Ministry of Tourism, was highlighted for the development of tourism policy in the cruise sector. The purpose of the Observatory is to measure, collect statistics, monitor and evaluate sustainable tourism development in the Mediterranean region, develop relevant research work and improve the competitiveness and resilience of the tourism product.
