Greek cruise tourism increases by 84.1% according to incredible insights

Greece’s cruise industry saw a remarkable revival in 2023, producing a significant €908.4 million in travel revenue, representing an extraordinary growth of 84.1 percent compared to the previous year. The main Greek locations in 2016, which accounted for 83.7% of all cruise ship arrivals in the country, provided the Bank of Greece (BoG) with these figures.

Additional income represented the remaining EUR 847.4 million of total turnover, of which EUR 61.0 million was attributable to the last port travelers leaving the country. After Santorini and Corfu with 8.5 percent and 13.3 percent respectively, the port of Piraeus emerged as the frontrunner, with a share of 47.8 percent of total cruise-related revenues. Notably, in 2023, a conglomeration of seven crucial cruise ship terminals facilitated 82.7 percent of cruise passenger visits and 90.8 percent of cruise revenue.

Compared to the 4,598 arrivals documented in 2022, cruise ship arrivals increased significantly over the year to 5,152. As a result, the total number of overnight accommodations on land experienced a remarkable increase of 121.5% per year, peaking at a total of 9,421.9 thousand in 2023. The increase in the number of overnight accommodations has significantly contributed to the growth of cruise income. In addition, the annual growth rate of the cruise passenger population was 61.1 percent, culminating in a total of approximately 3,484.1 thousand persons, the report said.

Santorini received the largest number of cruise ship arrivals, accounting for 15.5% of the total. Piraeus and Mykonos followed suit, each receiving 14.8% of the ships.

Furthermore, cruise passenger visits increased by 55.0%, reaching 6,964.2 thousand in 2023, up from 4,493.6 thousand in 2022. A remarkable 83.6% of the total population were transit visitors, who averaged 2.0 stops made telephone calls in Greek ports.

In March, the Hellenic Ports Association (ELIME) published preliminary data confirming that Greece shattered all cruise records in 2023. The country received 5,230 cruise ship arrivals and 7,003,150 passengers through its 49 ports, representing an astonishing increase of 9.41% and 51.26% respectively. compared to 2022.

As reported by ELIME, Ports Santorini (1,298,968), Mykonos (1,192,822), Corfu, Rhodes, Katakolo and Heraklion all handled passengers over Piraeus.