Tomorrow, Friday 21st April 2017, the first cruise ship with an organised group of exclusively Chinese passengers will set sail from Piraeus in Athens. This occasion is one that will hopefully signal the beginning of a strong future for Greece, from the Asian market, something that has been a target for the Ports themselves, for the Greek government and in Piraeus in particular, of the Chinese handling company Cosco.
In this direction, the assistance of Foreign Ministry has been crucial, with the area of manpower available at the Greek Embassies in China, in order to make the process of visa applications easier and faster for those Chinese, wishing to visit Greece.
The first “pilot” trip for the company Celestyal Cruises, which will use Piraeus and Lavrio as home ports, has been in planning for at least two years. The company have designed a specialist route for the Chinese passengers, with Chinese crew, chinese food but also, with Chinese guides for the sights that they will visit. The first group will be 250 visitors and already, another 2,000 Chinese have booked for their visit over the next few months.
The commencement of flights into Athens which have connections from China, by airlines such as Emirates and Scoot, has helped to get this project off the ground, but the concrete solidation of this cooperation will only happen with direct flights, something which according to the Chinese Embassy in Athens, is expected to begin very soon with Air China.
The opening Chinese cruise in the Aegean, will be carried out by the cruise ship Celestyal Olympia and the trip includes visits to Mykonos, Samos, Heraklion and Santorini. It is also important to point out that at the end of the cruise, the 250 passengers will remain in Athens for a few days, in an effort to strengthen the tourist product of the Capital and it’s surrounds.