2024-03-11 02:01:34
2023 was an amazing year for cruises in our country, surpassing any historical precedent in terms of total passenger arrivals, reports the Greek Ports Association (ELIME), which published the aggregated data of the previous year.
In particular, in 49 Greek ports, the total arrivals of cruise ships amounted to 5,230 and the number of passengers to 7,003,150, i.e. an additional 450 ship arrivals with 2,373,500 passengers compared to 2022. Accordingly, on a percentage basis, in 2023 compared to 2022, we had a 9.41% increase in cruise ship approaches and a 51.26% increase in passenger numbers.
It is worth noting that the previous all-time record for arrivals was set in 2011 with 5,261 cruise ship arrivals and 6,121,360 passengers, and now a new passenger record is being set with a 14.4% increase from 2011.
The difference of the percentage changes between ships and passengers, both for the years 2023-2022 and for the historical records 2023-2011, shows that on average the cruise ships calling at Greek ports in 2023 had a higher occupancy of passengers per ship. Thus, each arrival in 2023 corresponds to 1,339 passengers compared to 969 in 2022 and 1,164 passengers per ship in 2011.
The leader in relation to the number of cruise passengers is once again Piraeus with approximately 1,500,000 passengers, followed by Santorini with 1,298,968, Mykonos with 1,192,822 and then Corfu, Rhodes, Katakolo and Heraklion.
In terms of ship arrivals, Santorini takes first place with 800 arrivals, followed by Piraeus with 760, Mykonos with 749 and then Rhodes, Corfu, Heraklion and Patmos.
Most ports showed significant increases in passengers compared to 2022, with Piraeus leading the ranking in absolute numbers with 619,514 (+70.37%), followed by Mykonos with 506,904 (+73.90%), Santorini with 472,366 (+57, 15%), Katakolo with 139,360 (+55.57%) and Zakynthos with 130,050 passengers and the impressive increase of 510.96% compared to 2022. The ports of Astypalea (+1106.52%), Chios (+571.47%), Paros (+251.61%), Naxos (+237.13%), Rethymno (+163.68%), Tinos (+157.09%), Agios Nikolaos (+127.30%), Sifnos (+112.07%), and Hydra (102.32%), while Preveza, Andros and Ios.
The last year of the cruise, despite its positivity, did not favor Folegandros (-61.68%), Patras (-41.02%), Volos (-28.36%), Kos (-6.13% ), Samos (-9.63%), Syros (-7.18%) and Igoumenitsa (-3.63%).
Another important element for the past year for the cruise market is the choice of Greek ports for homeporting. As expected, the port of Piraeus takes the lead in homeporting with 525 arrivals and 880,800 passengers who started and ended their journey from Piraeus. It is followed by the port of Corfu with 54 arrivals and 194,792 passengers, Lavrio with 99 arrivals and 123,383 passengers, Heraklion with 6 arrivals and 14,106 passengers and Thessaloniki with 31 arrivals and 10,000 passengers.
As evidenced by the aforementioned, the cruise market in our country is an important development factor for both local communities and the national economy. Combined with the further increase of homeporting, but also the development of the infrastructure can give even greater prospects for additional jobs and opportunities in the market.
The forecasts based on the cruise ship pre-bookings in Greek ports for 2024 are promising, with estimates ranging from an increase of around 10% in arrivals and around 15% in the number of passengers expected this year in our ports.
“The Hellenic Ports Association, responding to its role and in cooperation with its members, agencies, the state, authorities and local communities, stands by in every effort to strengthen and develop the cruise market and the port industry in general with the aim of supporting of businesses and the national economy”, ELIME concludes.
Source: Reporter.gr