“Cruise tourism is a key to the government’s overall policy,” Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos said during his opening speech at the first Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum held at the Onassis Cultural Center in Athens on 21-22 June.
In an effort to solve the legal dispute between Greek-flag Louis Cruises and the Greek Seamen’s Pension Fund (NAT) in regards to unpaid contributions, the Maritime Affairs Ministry recently tabled a law amendment in Parliament until an irrevocable judicial decision is made.
Coastal shipping tickets are expected to be at least 10 percent cheaper this summer as dues for third parties are to be eliminated from the price, Prime Minister George Papandreou announced last month at the 19th General Assembly of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE).
The Ministry of Maritime Affairs may hope to attract non-European Union flag cruise ships this summer, but cruise professionals have warned that the market may be lost even for 2012 due to unclear points in the new law for the lifting of cabotage restrictions, Greek press reports...
Cyprus-based Louis Cruises, the only cruise company with Greek flag ships, announced last month that it had decided to abandon the Greek flag and switch to the Malta flag.
