Cruise Ships Sailing to Santorini Set to Drop

Cruise programing data for 2017 is indicating that Greece’s world famous Santorini is set to see cruise traffic to its shores drop next year.

The Cycladic island known for its rugged volcanic landscape has been one of the most popular cruise destinations and traditionally included in international cruise companies’ itineraries. Next year, however, this is expected to change with 363 scheduled cruises set to visit the island, down from 558 this year, marking a 35 percent decline. Further data reveals that over 170 routes have been cancelled for 2017.

According to Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) forecasts, cruise traffic to Greece is expected to decline by 30 percent and 1 million tourists in 2017 resulting in dwindling tourism revenues.

Sector insiders are attributing the decline to the increasing number of cancellations of package deals which include Turkey destinations as well as to a recent trend to re-focus tourism attention away from the Mediterranean. Indicatively, next year’s ITB Berlin has re-organized with central spaces now featuring Arab markets instead of major Mediterranean destinations such as Greece, France, Gibraltar, Portugal, Cyprus and Spain.