ELIME: Cruise Ship Arrivals to Greece Drop in 2017

Santorini came in fourth on the list of top ten Greek cruise destinations in 2017, dropping from second place in 2016.

Cruise ship arrivals to Greek ports recorded a 20.5 percent drop in 2017 and cruise passenger visits were down by 11 percent, compared to the year before, the Hellenic Ports Association (ELIME) said on Thursday.

According to ELIME, the cruise ship arrivals and passenger visits were influenced last year by political instability and geopolitical developments in the wider East Mediterranean region and the ports of those countries.

In 2017, Greek ports welcomed 3,415 cruise ships, as opposed to 4,307 in 2016 and 4,625,363 passengers, against 5,204,231.

However, the top ten Greek cruise destinations in 2017 remain the same as the previous years, with the port of Piraeus in first place welcoming 576 cruise ship arrivals with 1,055,559 passenger visits, compared with 625 vessel arrivals in 2016 with 1,094,135 passenger visits.

The port of Mykonos followed in second place with 501 cruise ship arrivals and welcoming 699,304 passengers in 2017 compared to 596 in 2016 with 722,517 passenger visits.

The port of Corfu came in third with 410 cruise ship arrivals last year and 679,681 passenger visits, followed by the port of Santorini — which dropped from second place last year — with 406 cruise ship arrivals and 620,570 passenger visits in 2017.

The port of Katakolo came in fifth place on the list of top 10 Greek cruise destinations in 2017, followed by Rhodes, Heraklion, Chania, Patmos and Kefalonia/Ithaki.