The Hellenic Ports Association (ELIME) announces today the cruise statistics for 2020, as in the previous 10 years. The measures taken globally to tackle the covid-19 pandemic have had and unfortunately continue to have social and economic impacts in all areas of activity. As expected, these measures also affected the cruise industry globally, an area in which our country has shown significant performance over the past years and has a promising future. Unfortunately, the cruise statistics recorded for 2020 in 43 registered destinations in our country, show a significant drop amounting in 202 cruise ship arrivals (compared to 3,899 arrivals in 2019) and 64,356 visitor arrivals (compared to 5,537,500 in 2019). That is, a drop of more than 95% in both indices. With the hope and wish that in 2021 the gradual de-escalation and recovery in all areas of activity will begin, we wish all those involved in this important sector of our economy health and optimism for the future.
The cruise ship “Mein Schiff 6” departed from Piraeus last night and the disembarkation/ embarkation of the passengers was successfully completed under strict safety measures, in compliance with all the relevant protocols. The “Mein Schiff 6” was the first ship to restart cruise in the Eastern Mediterranean calling Piraeus after 6 months suspension in Greece. The ship was welcomed by representatives of the port, exchanging complimentary gifts and expressing thereby their thanks and support for the restart of the cruise in Greece with the Captain of the ship, the CEO of TUI Cruises and the CLIA Europe representative.