Andreas Stylianopoulos, who is responsible for cruise travel at the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) believes the decline in cruise traffic is irreversible, after a big up-tick in the second half of this year.
Indeed, Stylianopoulos, CEO of Navigator Travel & Tourist Services, regional representative of Royal Caribbean Cruises, is ringing alarm bells, citing the dwindling number of itineraries planned by international cruise companies to Greece in 2017. He said cruises to the western coast of Greece, Piraeus, the Saronic Gulf, the Cyclades, Crete and the southern Dodecanese have been reduced. Many cultural and historical destinations are off the itineraries for 2017.

Stylianopoulos says Greece's cruise travel is currently being kept afloat by three or four high-interest Greek destinations but hopes 2018 may see things change if cruise companies push ahead with specialised marketing programmes and alternative activities.
He also is putting great faith in the new management of Piraeus which has recently passed into the hands of China's Cosco Shipping. "Cosco is committed to increasing cruise traffic through Piraeus and this is a
positive sign," says Stylianopoulos.

Stylianopoulos said this year's double-digit increase in the number of cruise passengers to Greece "is purely coincidental", and is due to the problems encountered by Turkey after the coup attempt and resulted in a transfer of services to Greece. However, "this will turn into a problem for 2017" he says, adding, "this is because many Turkish destinations are cancelled, and since many of the Greek
destinations were transfer points to Turkey, the Greek destinations are cancelled as well".
And he says, "this will affect hotels, shops, catering services, transport and trade in Greek ports and lead to significant public revenue losses".

Meanwhile, Greece's coastal shipping sector shrunk by about 32% in the past seven years according to a study by leading Greek research company ICAP Group. The research reveals that in the period from 2008 to 2015 local ferry companies recorded a loss of 7.8m passengers and 2.9m vehicles of all types.
Passenger shipping in Greece is dominated by major enterprises of high capitalisation that belong to strong business groups. There are also several smaller market players. Shipping & Island Policy ministry data show that Greek coastal shipping's entire active fleet numbers 230 vessels of various types and capacities.

Stamatina Pantelaiou, head of ICAP's Economic Research & Sectorial Studies Department, said the local ferry market posted a slight increase of 1% in 2015 compared to the previous year, while domestic lines, including hydrofoils and sea taxis, grew about 2%. In contrast, ferry lines linking Greece with Italy posted a 5% decline in the same period. Domestic lines account for 59.4% of the market, Adriatic lines for 27.7% and 12.9% belongs to small ferries.

However, ICAP see some opportunities for the sector including reducing fuel costs, increasing state subsidies and expanding to markets abroad. But, there also are threats from the continuing recession, the lack of liquidity and the growth of air passenger and cargo capacity, encouraged by
the lower cost of fuel.

© Shippax / David Glass