Cruises and city breaks are the latest focus for rebuilding travel to Greece as the country seeks to drive tourism outside its peak season.
Thessaloniki has been announced as a homeport for cruise lines including Celestyal Cruises and Royal Caribbean International, following a multimillion-pound upgrade to its port facilities. This included a €320 million grant from the EU Recovery and Resilience Fund, along with private investment in the city’s infrastructure.
Minister of Tourism Vassilis Kikilias said: “Having hundreds of islands, we are very compatible with cruising.
“We have put work into Thessaloniki port being a homeport. We have upgraded the airport. We have already seen an increase in itineraries and cruise ships. The estimation is that it’s 200%-250% up this year.
“For us Thessaloniki is a city break city. We are investing in a double campaign. We are going to do a winter campaign for city breaks – Athens and Thessaloniki – as winter destinations, then a big campaign in February and March for summer sun.”
Kikilias said numbers had rebounded better than expected this year, with hotels reporting an average 67% occupancy in September, and strong bookings already reported by airlines including British Airways, Jet2.com, easyJet and Ryanair for March 2022 onwards.
The average spending per tourist has also increased to more than €600 per person, up from €550 in 2020 and €490 in 2019.
Kikilias added that the country’s tourism strategy focused on encouraging visitors to lesser-known areas such as northern Greece, and promoting travel outside the peak summer period:
“You elongate the period by creating a concept that gives travellers something to do around the year,” he said.
“The aim is a 12-month vacation experience. We can do that with city breaks and strengthening the autumn.”