The Greek Parliament last week approved a bill charging cruise ship visitors a levy. The Greek government announced that the revenue will be invested for the construction and improvement of infrastructure and projects in general, as well as for the enhancement of tourism in the country.
Greece plans to impose a 20-euro levy on cruise ship arrivals to the popular islands of Santorini and Mykonos during the period June 1 to September 30 and a five-euro levy to other destinations.
For the period of October 1-31 and April 1 to May 31, Greece plans to impose a 12-euro levy on cruise ship arrivals to the islands of Santorini and Mykonos and a three-euro levy to other destinations.
For the period of November 1 to March 31, Greece plans to impose a 4-euro levy on cruise ship arrivals to the islands of Santorini and Mykonos and a one-euro levy to other destinations.
The Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview with Bloomberg earlier this year that the islands of Santorini and Mykonos, which have become focal points in the debate over the perils of over-tourism, are the ones “that are clearly suffering.”
Santorini saw 800 cruise ship visits in 2023, followed by Mykonos with 749.
“Santorini is the most sensitive, Mykonos will be the second,” Mitsotakis noted.
According to reports, Greece is emerging as the protagonist of the cruise sector in the Eastern Mediterranean for 2023, with an amazing year for the cruise sector in the country, and historic passenger arrivals.
In particular, in 49 Greek ports, the total arrivals of cruise ships amounted to 5,230 and the number of passengers to 7,003,150, which is an additional 450 ship arrivals with 2,373,500 passengers compared to 2022.
Accordingly, on a percentage basis, in 2023 compared to 2022, the country had a 9.41% increase in cruise ship approaches and a 51.26% increase in passenger numbers.
It is worth noting that the previous all-time record for arrivals was set in 2011 with 5,261 cruise ship arrivals and 6,121,360 passengers, and now a new passenger record is being set with an increase of 14.4% since 2011.
