The season for cruises, due to the Easter holidays, may have started, with most of the Greek ports having already welcomed the first passengers of this season, but the statistics that are coming to light, for the course and in particular the income from this branch of tourism, are causing concern.
According to a special study on cruise ships, which was carried out by the Bank of Greece, for the last year, 90,9% of passengers were in transit and of whom, on average, made 1,5 stops in Greek ports, compared to 2 in 2015.
The impact on revenue is important, whilst, as cruise ship executives point out, despite efforts that have been made, Greek ports still have not been able to achieve “home port” status for the big companies. The difference in income in relation to the income generated in ports where passengers spend only a few hours, is huge: from the analysis of the BofG, it transpires that transit passengers spend an average of 65 euros in each port. From that amount, 14 euros go on guided tours at museums etc, 29 euros on different purchases and 6 euros on transport, whilst the remaining 16 euros goes on miscellaneous expenditure.
Spending in Greek home ports was almost double that in transit ports and came to the sum of 139 euros. The analysis is: 26 euros on guided tours, 34 euros on purchases, 6 euros on transport, 39 euros on “other” expenditure. The other important difference is that usually, these passengers stay a minimum of one night in the home port, spending another 34 euros for this reason, before boarding.
In 2016, the total income from cruise ship passengers, increased by just 1% in comparison to 2015 and came to a total of 509 million euros. This, despite the fact that Turkey was taken out of the programmes of many cruise companies, due to the threats of terrorist attacks and the political situation, which resulted in Greece absorbing a large number of those passengers.
The biggest port for cruise ship income is Piraeus, with a 43,8% share of the overall figures. Corfu follows along with Santorini who have a 14,7% and 8,6% share, respectively.
This year, it is estimated that the situation will be more difficult. Executives in the field explain that in general, the season will be good but it is not expected to follow the same lines as in other areas of tourism. The businesses in the market show a 30% drop in cruise ship arrivals into Greek ports in 2017 with cancellations by big groups, largely because of events in Turkey, bearing in mind that many routes combine Greek and Turkish destinations.