THE CRUISE INDUSTRY IN GREECE

A SURVEY AND ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT STATUS

QUO

Dr. A. J. CORRES
Department of Shipping, Trade and Transport, University of the Aegean
Visiting Professor, City Law School
ajcorres@aegean.gr

Y. PAPACHRISTOU
Management Consultant, PPA S.A.
papachristouy@olp.gr

Abstract
The cruise ship industry in Greece is currently undergoing a period of rapid expansion at a time
when the Greek isles are included among the top most popular destinations worldwide. This
paper presents an overview of the trends in the development of the cruise industry in Greece, by
offering comparative statistics of ship calls and visitors in the most popular Greek destinations.
In addition, the question of available cruise-related infrastructure in the Greek ports - in their
function as ship and passenger interface points - is discussed and assessed. Subsequently, the
paper proceeds to an evaluation of the incoming revenue streams stemming from cruise ship calls
and highlights their significance for the development and sustainability of port-cities.

As the viability and future success of the cruise industry in Greece will largely depend on the
cooperative endeavors shown by the public and the private sectors, the ways through which such
ventures can be implemented are briefly discussed along with their relative merits. Despite the
restraints posed by the current economic crisis, the reasons for which there are still good
prospects for continued growth by this industry in the foreseeable future are examined along with
the necessary conditions which will make this matter realistically possible.

Key Words: Cruise ships; passengers; home port; port infrastructure; tourist season; cruise
benefits.

Acknowledgements
We should thank the Hellenic Ports Association (HPA) and its members who have made valuable
contributions and without their assistance this analysis would not have the necessary depth.

1
 1. Introduction
Cruising in Greece goes back half a century to
the days when the Nomikos family sold two
passenger ships, "Achilles" and
"Agamemnon," in 1958 to Olympic Cruises,
whose major shareholder was Aristotle
Onassis. A few years before the founding of
Olympic Cruises, Epirotiki, a company owned
by Potamianos family, active in passenger
shipping since the 30s, operated the vessel
"Tasos" of the "patriarch" of Greek cruising
Tasos Potamianos, which was chartered by
American archaeologists who enjoyed cruises
to the Aegean islands.1
Epirotiki, eventually, established itself as one
of the leading companies in the cruise industry
globally, but sadly went bankrupt despite its
brilliant course mentioned Theotokas and
Harlafti (2007). In 1958 Charalambos
Kioseoglou founded the Sun Lines. In 1965,
Kavounidis, one of the oldest passenger
shipping companies, which was founded in
1912 in Istanbul and moved to Piraeus in
1922, entered cruising in 1965 under the name
K Hellenic Lines with the ship Centaur. Other
major companies followed such as Typaldos
Lines and Efthimiadis noted Papadopoulos
(2011). In 1963 Chandris Group started its
activity in that sector, and in 1976 it managed
to control the largest fleet of cruise ships
around the world.
While the cruise market was expanding in the
coming decades, Greek companies claimed an
increased share in Mediterranean markets
which were increasing in number. In 1970,
Louis Cruises, a Cypriot-owned company
entered the Mediterranean market for the first
time, focused on organizing short-period
cruises to Cyprus and during the 80s
expanded its activities by offering cruises to
the Greek islands, Egypt and Israel. Pericles
Panagopoulos founded his own company in
1971 named Royal Cruise Line. The Royal
Cruise Line was repeatedly voted as the best
cruise company in the world. This company
was also sold in 1989, while at its peak. The
1
http://www.koutouzis.gr/naftilia-atmoploia.htm
Norwegian company Kloster which bought the
vessels however, went bankrupt in the middle
of an economic crisis discovered Skordilis
(2009).
In 1972 Karageorgis Lines was founded,
having as its first ship the Mediterranean Sea.
A significant and interesting case is the Greek
company Regency Cruises, which was
founded by Anastasios Kyriakides in 1984,
and paved the way for Greek cruising in the
international markets. It was a company which
operated in the beginning at the Montego coast
and later in the Caribbean. In the 90s Tony
Lelakis bought the Regency cruises which
collapsed in 1995. In 1997 Celebrity
(Chandris Group) sold all its ships to Royal
Caribbean Cruises and withdrew from the
cruise industry noted Diakomichalis,
Stefanidaki, Lekakou and Syriopoulos (2011).
Carnival Cruises acquired Epirotikis shares in
1994, but the Potamianos family and regained
it one year later and formed the Royal
Olympic Cruises in collaboration with Sun
Lines.
Throughout the course of the Greek flag in the
cruise industry sector, labor cost has been an
important factor as this form of service is the
most predominantly labor intensive in the
shipping industry. This has led to strategic
alliances between seafarer unions and cruise
ship owners in the context of Presidential
Decree 177 which regulates the mandatory
composition of the crew for passenger vessels
including all hotel services staff. In the past,
this practice was extended also to cover
cabotage - related matters, in expectation that
the exclusive reservation of the Greek cruise
market for ships under the Greek flag would
benefit both sides. History has shown however
that this practice which burdened operators
with oversize manning did not lead to the
desired result, but to the opposite i.e. to the
disappearance of the Greek cruise ship.
Meanwhile, the Mediterranean as a destination
has prevailed over Alaska and has climbed to
the second place in the preferences of
passengers worldwide, while the Caribbean
remains, consistently, the most popular
2
destination (Bleiberg, 2012). Europeans are
the largest audience as cruise passengers
(26.9%) after the Americans and they prefer to
travel in Europe, due to proximity, natural
beauty and cultural interest. The
Mediterranean as a cruise destination area
could be divided into two geographic regions,
the Western and the Eastern Mediterranean,
considering the Italian peninsula as a natural
boundary. The port of Piraeus is, undoubtedly,
prominent in the eastern Mediterranean, both
as a home port as well as a popular
destination; famous are also the Greek islands.
The Greek cruise market as already mentioned
has remained for many years under the
privilege of exclusivity for ships under the
Greek flag. This regime has changed, since
2003, by the adoption of EU Regulation
3577/92 which allows ships under the flag of
European countries to access the Greek
market. In 2012, it further opens to cruise
ships under flags of third countries. Following
this change, ships under flags of third
countries will be examining the possibility to
use Greek ports as a point of embarkation and
disembarkation of passengers, which is
accompanied by significant benefits for the
tourism industry in general.
The cruise industry may potentially fulfill the
role of a battering ram to the persistent Greek
problem of a short tourist season. It is well
known that the duration of the tourist season in
Greece is very limited starting from fifty days
(e.g. in the western Cyclades islands) and
exceeding only in a number of cases the length
of one semester.
By contrast, the period of cruising in Greece,
begins much earlier, there are already several
ship arrivals in March (in March 2011, Piraeus
welcomed 29 cruise ships and 49,171
passengers) or even earlier, and continues until
December, totaling three hundred days a year.
The cruise ships calling at the port of Piraeus
are also making approaches to other Greek
destinations and that results to visitors to the
local markets in periods where there is no local
tourism. This fact is perhaps the most
important element of cruising from the
perspective of national tourism policy.
As the first results show the potentials of this
new drive are extremely encouraging to the
extent that the official state is talking about a
new resource for the Greek economy, if not for
a'' new locomotive'' for the national economic
development. The purpose of this analysis is
an initial inventory of the key items of this
economic phenomenon as manifested by
statistics and information from the network of
cruise ports throughout Greece.
2. Cruise ships and destinations
Cruising is a combination of actions which
include maritime transport, travelling, tourism
and leisure noted Lekakou and Pallis (2005)
and it can be described as a round trip based
on a specific rotation with given destinations
which takes place on a suitably designed ship
that provides hotel services of high-level
quality, entertainment places, indoor sports
and spa, medical assistance and the
appropriate organization to explore the places
of interest.
In addition, the cruise ship is the mean by
which tourists access the various cruise
destinations from which they have the
opportunity to visit local or nearby places of
interest. This method of tourism that takes
place from Alaska to the Caribbean and from
Barcelona to Singapore in the new globalized
environment (Wood, 2000) has been
characterized by rapid growth at an annual rate
of 7.38% from 1990 projected to 2015. The
estimate for 2013 is that cruise passengers will
reach 21.3 million, an increase of 15.7% over
2010.
3
 Cruise Passenger Trend (worldwide)
25000000,0
20000000,0
15000000,0
10000000,0
5000000,0
,0
2008 2009 2010 2011
These figures are also reflected in the financial
results, produced for 2010 by the cruise
companies, their crews and passengers direct
expenditure of 14.5 billion Euros which,
compared to 2009 was increased by 3%. In
particular, it should be noted that the
phenomenon of continuous demand rise occurs
since 2008 during a global economic crisis.
This could mean that it has the potential to
increase much more rapidly after the crisis.
Under such circumstances the number of
cruise passengers worldwide could reach the
thirty million mark in 2020.
The brisk rises in demand for cruises as well
as competition among companies for larger
market shares in this lucrative market, is
resulting in the construction of more and larger
vessels (mega-liners, mega-ships) that increase
the number of available passengers, while
reducing further the cost per departing
passenger through economies of scale. These
economies materialize only if high filling rates
are warranted. As the high filling rates are not
given, or automatically achieved, the burden of
booking down to the marginal cabin falls on
the companys marketing department, whose
2012 2013 2014 2015
task is assisted by the indivisibility of the
cruise ship which offers a low opportunity cost
for vacant spaces. Given the indivisibility of
the cruise ship, the marginal cost of the
additional passenger is so low that it radically
changes the traditional regular pricing based
on the average cost per passenger plus margin.
For the three years period from 2011 to 2014,
23 cruise ships have been scheduled for
delivery worldwide having a total intake
capacity of 60,630 passengers. It should be
stressed that nine of them, with a capacity of
20,300 passengers (33.5%), have been
earmarked for the European market amounting
to an investment of around 5.1 billion Euros
(European Cruise Council, 2011).
The increase in the size of cruise ships, which
as we have seen follows its own pattern, is not
generally accompanied by a parallel increases
in infrastructure in host ports. Normally port
facilities are planned with a prospect to host
larger-sized ships, but once the limit is reached
they cannot match rates of ship size evolution.
Having all these in mind, let us examine the
size issue of cruise ships visiting Greece.
4
Table 1: Average size of cruise ship

2500 2196
2047
2000 1911
1586
1312
1500 1144 1327 1118 1235 1193
1108 1117 1056 1060
975 2010
1000
549 650 2011
548
500 366
286

Source: HPA Primary statistics, authors processing

Table 1 shows the average sizes of cruise ships
- with respect to the passengers carried - which
have visited the ten most popular Greek cruise
ports in 2010 and 2011. At first glance it is
clear that the average size of cruise ship during
these two years exceeds the one thousand
passengers mark (1,140 people onboard on
average) and that some destinations such as
Katakolon where ships call for visiting
Ancient Olympia, attract very large ships,
unlike others, such as Patmos, which
traditionally attracts much smaller ships.
However, at present, the cruise ships which
exceed the size of two thousand passengers are
not many, although this is going to change in
the next few years. The "Greek" average size
for cruise ships during the period 2010/11 is
no different than in other Mediterranean
destinations where it was 1.174 passengers per
ship (European Cruise Council, 2011).
Average ship size was 992 passengers in 2010
and 1,286 passengers for 2011. We observe a
sharp increase of almost 30% which seems to
keep pace with the observed passenger growth
in the Greek cruising.
The arrivals of cruise ships are distributed
among eight ports, two of which are home
ports and at the same time destination ports
(Piraeus and Corfu are the hybrid ports) all the
other ports being exclusively destination ports
(ports of call). These eight ports have
accounted for more than 90% of cruise ship
arrivals.

Table 2: Cruise ship arrivals by cruise port

1200
962 936
1000 823
800 700 684 526
531
594
600 536 481 453
429360429 2010
400 247
2011
209 72 61 48 42 19 10
200 21 33 44 33 20 11 23 11 1
0

Source: HPA Primary statistics, authors processing

5
The last two years, the eight major cruise
destinations attracted 8,900 out of a total of
9,322 approaches to emerging ports. If we
divide 8,900 approaches: 2 years: 8 ports =
556 calls/ per main destination /per year. The
average number of calls per port implies about
1.5 ships on a daily basis for twelve months
for each main destination. If this number is
correlated with the average size of 1.140
passengers per ship, we can have an estimation
of the theoretical average number of visitors
for 2010/11 which is: 1,710 visitors / per day/
per main destination. This number provides an
order of magnitude for the importance of
cruising for the ports in question and also
highlights the impact on local demand for
goods and services.
Santorini is currently the most popular
destination in the world and that is reflected in
the number of calls which increased by 37.4%
in relation to 2010. Other Greek ports also
show increasing trends with the exception of
five destinations which showed a decline in
2011 compared to the previous year (Rhodes -
1.8%, Patmos -9.4%, Heraklion -15.3%,
Thessaloniki -5% and Kavala -9%). Finally we
3. Cruise Passengers
Cruise passengers are people with an average
age of 48 years, highly educated (76% have a
university degree) with a high annual income,
97,000 $ (Cruise Market Profile Study CLIA,
2011). They come in organized groups and
they are expecting services of high quality.
When tourists are aboard a cruise ship, they
are enjoying a controlled environment of
luxury and security a "tourist bubble as aptly
described (Jaakson, 2004) that in some cases
can "bust" meaning to come in contrast to the
situation at the destination port. It may become
even worse if confronted with a disappointing
picture of a dirty and disorganized city or town
where archaeological sites may be locked and
basic infrastructure services may be
unavailable due to industrial unrest.
An important part of a national policy for the
development of cruising in Greece should be
the adoption of measures aimed at improving
should not miss the rapid increase in Chania
which is expected to continue next year.
We notice significant cruise ship arrivals
before the tourist season starts and after it is
completed, in particular, the season for cruise
ships in Piraeus begins in February. However
it does not start simultaneously for all Greek
destinations, the first arrivals in Rhodes may
occur in February, Katakolon does not expect
the first cruise ship before Easter, which is in
mid-April. Nevertheless, the month with the
plethora of arrivals varies according to
destination.
Cruising by definition has an international
character and that allows operating
independently of any national legislation
which restricts the right to holidays to a few
summer months. This feature may be the key
in extending the duration of the tourist season
in the Greek destinations. Greece has every
reason to exploit this opportunity for economic
development, with the introduction of
flexibility to its own national legislation with
an eye to smoothing out the spikes in vessel
traffic during summer months and spreading
the season wider.
both the infrastructure and the image of the
existing cruise ports. Home porting for cruises
should be encouraged in view of significantly
higher levels of tourist expenditure and
multiple benefits for the national economy and
also for the local communities (Dywer and
Forsyth, 1998). This is important for the
flexibility of the companies programming and
it requires the existence of an international
airport within reasonable distance from the
port. The existence of such airports is the
condition that will ultimately dictate whether a
port district has the potential to evolve into a
home port, forming a conditio sine qua non.
Under this perspective - and if things develop
as expected - Greece could become a major
hub for Eastern Mediterranean cruises which
will also cover the Black Sea and the Adriatic
with excellent prospects in the foreseeable
future.
6
Table 3: Passenger arrivals by cruise port
Table 3: Passenger arrivals by cruise port
3000000
2500000
2000000
1500000
1000000
500000
0 2011
Source: HPA Primary statistics, authors processing
* Passenger in Piraeus is in accordance with the European Directive 95/64/EC as amended in 2008.
It should be noted that only 6 Greek ports -
which are traditional cruise destinations- out of
a total of 17 exceed 500,000 thousand cruise
passengers a year. The other ports have
presented low cruise passenger traffic,
however, there are reasonable grounds to be
optimistic regarding their rapid development
once the law allowing access to non- EU flag
cruise vessels is amended. A rise to the order
of 21% in the number of passengers (2010/11)
has been observed in the above main
destinations.
Only 3 destinations have shown a decline in
the number of passengers: Heraklion has
shown a decline of 27%, Kos has shown
increased cruise ships arrivals (a rise of 9%)
but has hosted fewer passengers as obviously
smaller ships have visited this island.
Thessaloniki also has seen a decline of 28%.
Although 5 destinations have hosted fewer
cruise ship arrivals, only two of them have
presented fewer visitors, a fact that indirectly
confirms the trend towards larger cruise ships.
Although Santorini has a higher number of
calls by cruise ships than Piraeus, the biggest
Greek port receives many more cruise
passengers. Piraeus exceeds by far in
passengers numbers not only Santorini (by
58%) but also all the other destinations,
demonstrating the kind of dynamism home
porting brings once established.
2010
In general, without significant investment both
in infrastructure - in order to accommodate
cruise ships - and in superstructures to
facilitate the movement of passengers, a cruise
port cannot attract the necessary support
(Marti, 1990). The existing port infrastructures
and other land facilities in Greece face
problems. One can briefly mention certain
problem areas which need to be addressed
here:
Docks and Piers (mainly length and depth)
Safe Areas for Anchorage (adequacy of the
number of served ships and anchorage
management, winds, seabed mapping)
Ship services at anchorage
Berth Reservation System
Sites for disembarkation and for passenger
waiting
Means for taking passengers to inaccessible
areas ashore (e.g. Santorini))
Port Security
Port organization to accommodate large
numbers of tourists Adequacy/training of
port personnel
Ability to deal with health emergencies
It is evident that these issues cannot be
ignored, but it is also obvious that these
matters could not be addressed simultaneously.
There is need for prioritization and planning
which could suitably become a part of the
national policy for the Development of the
Islands which has already been announced at a
7
time when the role of the port authority
expands, not necessarily as a provider of port
services, but as a regulator to safeguard the
public interest and to promote the common
interest (Chlomoudis, 2011) at a local level.
The newly formed Greek Regions are also
expected to have an active role in that,
although the effort would be more effective if
there was some form of central coordination.
NSRF involvement will be necessary in raising
capital, and assistance would be needed to
expedite projects by bypassing bureaucratic
obstacles in the implementation process.
The need for adequate infrastructure is
essential for the attraction of cruise ships from
major international cruise companies.
However, in many cases infrastructure for
ships has been designed for different purposes
than to serve cruise ships and for this reason,
many ports need to adapt to the needs of this
business.
Table 4: Cruise ships / pier/ year
600
481
500
400
300 215 228 227
200 104 66 52
100
0
Source: HPA Primary statistics, authors processing
Today, as one would expect, Piraeus is the port
which has most piers, 11 for cruise ships and
the average number of calls to each one of
these is: 104 ships a year, meaning 2 ships per
week. This figure includes both the period of
intensive work in the peak of the touristic
season, and also the winter period when there
are no calls, so it statistically describes the
general situation ignoring peaks and troughs in
vessel traffic. Today, the well developed
infrastructure of Piraeus port is considered
adequate to serve the numbers of cruise ships
and passengers calling and for this reason one
The issue of the adequacy of infrastructure is
also raised in vessel size and the increase in
the number of visitors. In the first case
questions are raised relating to the size,
number and depth of the piers, the second case
concerning the admission, service and access
of visitors to various places of tourist interest
(cruise terminal, customs, parking for coaches
and taxis, adequate roads, etc.). Some Greek
ports possess a significant number of piers for
cruise ships, but some others have only one, or
none which necessitates the use of boats.
The increase in the number of cruise ships
calling during the peak months results to tight
situations in berth allocation and in the long
term this puts pressure on port authorities to
create more and larger piers. Until that
happens, a major issue is created in berthing
coordination (berth reservation is a key
demand of cruise companies). The following
table depicts the average pier occupancy in
Greek cruise destinations.
36 61
24 10 5 1 1
can use these as a tentative benchmark for
understanding of what is happening to the
other Greek cruise ports.
Berth occupancy in the ports of Katakolon,
Mykonos and Corfu is considerably more
crowded (4.1 ships / per pier / per week in
Katakolon, 4.4 in Mykonos and also in Corfu),
while the status in Patmos appears to be
extreme by having 9.2 ship calls per week to
the single pier. It should be noted that the
average size of ship calling at Patmos has been
5.5 times smaller than the one calling to
Katakolon. Moreover, Rhodes, Heraklion,
8
Chania, Volos and Kos demonstrate much destination port which means that cruise ships
better statistics, having one ship per berth per spend less time there and therefore the current
week or less, while the traffic of cruise ships in level of calls could theoretically be
the other ports piers is negligible. Of accommodated with fewer piers, maybe four
particular interest is the case of Santorini that or five.
does not have any pier for berthing cruise
ships, despite the record call of 962 ships in The other element of infrastructure that serves
2011. the passengers is the cruise terminal which
like piers also has limits in the number of
In the theoretical case that Santorini proceeded passengers it can handle. Table 5 below offers
to create piers for cruise ships, their number a ball park approach to the general issue of
should not be less than nine if the target is an passenger terminal adequacy without being
average occupancy of two ships a week per able to draw accurate conclusions due to lack
pier, as it is in Piraeus. However, Santorini, of quantitative (e.g. square meters) and
unlike Piraeus which is a hybrid port, is only a qualitative (handling procedures etc) details.
Table 5: Cruise Terminals and Passenger traffic
AVERAGE
PASSENGERS /MONTH/ %CHANGE
PORTS TERMINAL
TERMINAL
2010 2011
PIREAUS YES (2) 77694 104800 35 %
SANTORINI NO 64626 78191 21 %
UNDER
KATAKOLON CONSTRUCTION 61405 68329 11 %
UNDER
MYKONOS CONSTRUCTION 55281 65197 18 %
CORFU YES 47450 49519 4%
UNDER
RHODES CONSTRUCTION 47149 49014 4%
HERAKLION YES 25417 18464 -27 %
PATMOS NO 12655 14684 16 %
CHANIA NO 959 13177 1274 %
VOLOS YES 1788 6066 239 %
KOS NO 2188 1956 -11 %
THESSALONIKI YES 1336 960 -28 %
MILOS 669 1029 54 %
KAVALA YES 197 226 15 %
PATRA YES 88 191 116 %
IGOUMENITSA YES 10 13 27 %
ALEXANDROUPOLIS 0 20
Source: HPA Primary statistics, authors processing

After a large increase in arrivals, the adequacy
of terminals in the port of Piraeus in 2010 was
followed by a relative inadequacy in 2011, a
fact which has led to the construction of two
additional terminals in Piraeus port. For the
relative sizes of PPA S.A. the threshold in
terminal throughput is broadly 90,000
passengers per month per cruise terminal that
means - always on average basis throughout
the year 3,000 passengers per day, which in
practice means approximately 5-6,000
passengers or more on busy days.
9
Although Mykonos and Katakolon have fewer
arrivals than Piraeus, they have cruise
terminals under construction which should be
similar to size to those Piraeus port has. In that
way there would be a margin of increase in
throughput of 40% from the current levels.
This same argument can be the starting point
of consideration of the needs of other
destinations. The ports of Crete create a
special case because there is great potential for
4. Economic aspects
The economic impact of cruise ship calls
diffuses throughout the national economy via
an income multiplier effect (Stefanidaki and
Lekakis, 2011). According to Tsartas (2010)
the income multiplier for the Greek islands is
higher than in other tourist destinations and
has been estimated to a factor value of 2.18. 2
The cruise companies are commercial
companies which offer specialized services
and many of them are subjected to strictly
controlled procedures for quality assurance
and legal protection. These schemes often
limit their flexibility in decision making as
they are designed to provide high-level
standard services and to protect the company
from any legal claims from the passengers
side or third parties. The awareness of civil
servants concerning the above will facilitate
the proposal of measures that will be
comprehensible by companies and by
extension, workable.
Other than regulations in the areas of hygiene,
safety, security, environmental protection and
customer satisfaction there are also
commercial aspects that are applicable to
cruise ships in all areas where these operate.
The performance of each ship is examined
2
"The tourism multiplier was estimated recently at
2.184 and shows the dynamics of the tourism multiplier
in our country compared with other touristic countries
(Andriotis 2005, Tsartas 2010, Tab.6, ch. Part B) (many
of these islands) which is also an evidence of the
significant linkages with other sectors of the economy
(it is estimated that tourism consumption affects a 60%
of the branches of the Greek economy (Andriotis 2005,
Tsartas 2010Tab.6, ch part B) "
significant increases in ship calls, especially
when one take into consideration the
possibility of becoming home ports.
Excluding the ports of Chania and
Alexandroupolis, where the changes occurred
are extreme, we observe that the average
change in passenger throughput per terminal
month per month is (2010/2011) has been
around +33%.
both individually as well as in comparison to
other ships which may work in other
geographical areas under different legal
regimes. It follows that: (a) local requirements
filter through in the evaluation process of a
ships business performance, and (b)
competition among destinations can be
affected by a friendly, or less friendly,
operating environment. Both of the above may
have an impact on the attractiveness of
destinations.
During the evaluation process which examines
the relative attractiveness of a destination, the
administrative requirements are scrutinized in
order to allow a comprehensive assessment of
the package from the point of view of the cost
to the provider. The aspect of cost will become
part of a general assessment which of course
includes marketing and strategic
considerations.
9,322 cruise ship calls in Greek destinations in
the years 2010/11 multiplied by the average
vessel size (1,140 visitors) indicate an average
annual activity of 5.3 million passenger
disembarkations yearly (to all destinations).
This figure compares with a lower number of
4.5 million (ECC, 2010) but if increased by
21% -which is the increase in cruise visitors
2010/2011, it reaches 5.4 million.
The passenger disembarkation statistic has
been chosen as the unit to calculate the cruise
traffic because in every cyclical trip the cruise
ship calls at several ports where passengers
have the opportunity to make visits and also
make purchases in each one of them. As one
makes reference to multiple ship calls, the
actual number of physical persons making
these visits is lower, as the same person is
10
counted as a person disembarked in port
statistics more than once, while physically it is
the same person onboard which goes several
times ashore.
For example if the cruise ship makes four
approaches, the same person will be counted
four times. Under this perspective, if we want
to approximate the number of individuals who
visit Greece on cruise ships every year, the
number of 5.3 million should be divided by the
average - number of port calls (in our
example is divided by four.) This figure
1,325,000 - can be compared with the figure of
1,484,800 individual passengers who have
disembarked at the port of Piraeus in 2011,
which suggests that the average number of
cruise ship calls in Greece is somewhat less
than four, 3.6 ports.
For a more detailed calculation of the way in
which cruises impact the economy it is
necessary one distinguishes between homeport
and destination port (Lekakis, Xydeas, and
Stefanidaki, 2005). With the exception of the
port of Piraeus and to a lesser extent the port
of Corfu, Greek cruises center around
destination ports. Home ports have the
advantage of higher expenses made by
passengers before boarding, and then, after the
disembarkation of the ship. After recent
developments in the ports of Crete (Heraklion
and Chania) and Rhodes, where negotiations
for agreements with international companies
have taken place, but also in other ports which
seek to play a role as homeports like Volos,
this situation is expected to change and shortly
there will be a ratio of passengers in home
ports versus destination ports 25% - 75%. In
the following calculations this analogy has
been used.
On this basis one can distinguish physical
passengers in two categories:
Home port Passengers: 375,000
Transit passengers: 1,125,000
5.3m passenger divided by 3.6 ports, generates
approximately 1,500,000 passengers.
Each passenger of the first category has been
estimated that spends before boarding on
flights, hotels, tours, meals etc, an average of
283 Euros (ECC, 2010). A similar but usually
smaller amount is spent after the
disembarkation but this information is not
available. Assuming - due to the absence of
reliable statistics - that this type of passenger
spends 117 Euros more after disembarkation
and before returning home, the costs
associated with getting on and leaving the ship
reach 400 Euros per person.
On the other hand it has been estimated that
during visits to Greek destinations, passengers
spend on tours, restaurants, souvenir shops etc,
an average of 61.5 Euros per passenger per
destination, regardless of how they started or
end their cruise. It has been estimated that a
cruise passenger spends in a homeport six to
seven times more than he spends in a port-of-
call, and that each one million Euros in costs
from the cruise industry creates 2.3 million
Euros in business output and 22 vacancies.
(GP Wild and BREA, 2007)3.
The above allow us to make an approximate
estimate on the expenditure level of cruise
tourism in Greece which is the most important
factor of economic interest for the country as a
whole and in particular for the local
communities.
3
The calculation of the costs to the home port of Wild and
Brea is confirmed by our own calculation (400: 61.5 = 6.5)
based on statistics of the European Cruise Council (ibid). As
they referred to by the same multiplier of income has been
reported in insular Greece was 2.18 (See: Andriotis (2005) and
Tsaltas (2010).
11
Table 6: Passenger and Crew spending
A. Passenger expenses from Home Porting: 400 Euros* 375,000 = 150.0 m
B. Passenger expenses in destinations: 61.5 Euros*3.6*1,500,000 = 332.1 m
C. Crew expenses (see calculation on Table 8, Note 3 )= 26.5 m

TOTAL: 508.6 million Euros

Note: We accept that all passengers (home port + transit) are getting off the ship to all destinations and that during their
visits they spend the amount of 61.5 million on average in each destination.

Experience in Europe has shown that the costs with the construction and repairs of cruise
incurred by cruise lines for goods and services ships (ECC, 2011). If these latter costs - which
in the countries they operate, are twice the constitute a 33% of the total - are removed, we
costs incurred by passengers and crews, but can estimate the overall picture of benefit for
this proportion also includes costs associated Greece from cruises.
Table 7: Sources of income
From passengers and crews (without multiplier): 508.6 million Euros
From purchases of goods and services*: 681.5 million Euros
*{508.6 *2 = 1,017.2 minus 33% (costs associated with construction and repairs) = 681.5 million Euros

CRUISE TURNOVER (WITHOUT MULTIPLIERS) 1,190.1 4 Billion Euros

Based on 2011 data the benefits in each main destination can be apportioned to the various
destinations as follows:
Table 8: Theoretical transit-passenger spending (without multipliers)
DESTINATION 2011 PASSENGERS PASSENGER EXPENSES CREW EXPENSES TOTAL
Santorini 938,300*61.5 57.7 3.3 61.0

Katakolon 820,000*61.5 50.4 2.8 53.2

Mykonos 782,300*61.5 48.1 2.7 50.8

Corfu 540,000*61.5 33,2 1.8 35.0

Rhodes 588,200*61.5 36.2 2.0 38.2

Heraklion 221,500*61.5 13.6 0.8 14.4

Patmos 176,200*61.5 10.8 0.6 11.4

Piraeus 1,200,000*61.5 73,8 4.0 77,8

TOTAL 5,266,500*61.5 = 323,8 18.0 341,8
Note 1: The figures of Piraeus and Corfu do not include home porting expenses.
Note 2: If the total revenue in the last column is multiplied with the income multiplier of 2.18 which stands for the
islands, the total amount - including the non-island Piraeus and Katakolon ports (without multiplier) is 572.3
million.
Note 3: Crew spending has been calculated as follows: (A) We consider that each ship (with an average size of
1,286 passengers in 2011) has a crew which equals 40% of its passengers, that means that it has 514 crew
members. Therefore, the passengers expenses in 3.6 destinations multiplied by the average passenger number per
ship in 2011, gives us: 61.5 Euro * 3.6 * 1.286 = 284,720 Euros. (B) We also believe that, of every visiting crew on
each port, only half of the crew members are leaving the ship, that is 257 crew staff. Therefore, crew expenses are
shaped as it follows: 16.5 Euros * 3.6 * 257 = 15,266 Euros. The ratio of expenses of the crews towards the costs of
passengers is about 5.5%.

4
The above calculation of the cruise turnover is very close to a similar calculation of the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping (internal
data, not published) using a different logical approach, the two different approaches converge and even if both contain
inaccuracies the real number for the cruise turnover cannot abstain from 1.2 billion per year.
12
All data shown in Table 8 deliberately exclude benefits from the substantial costs of companies
for purchases of goods and services. The reason is that most of these costs are not carried out in
destination ports but in homeports (Piraeus and Corfu at present) where the relevant facilities are
provided.

The highest percentage of revenue by source A of Table 6 must be added to the revenue of
Piraeus which is a destination port and at the same time a home port, as it is indicated in sources
B and C of the same table. Assuming that the ratio of income between Piraeus and Corfu
regarding Home Porting is 9:1, i.e. 135 million Euros for Piraeus, then theoretically the broader
area of Athens and Piraeus makes revenue of 220.3 million Euros a year from cruise passengers
and crews only.5

Table 9: Piraeus port revenues

. Passenger and crew expenses in Piraeus
Revenues from home porting passengers 375,000 *9/10 =
337,500 *400 Euros = 135.0 m
Revenues from transit passengers 1,200,000 * 61.5 Euros = 73.8 m
Revenues from crews : 208.8 million Euros * 5.5% = 11.5 m
Total revenue from passengers and crews 220.3 m

. Total revenue from goods and services by companies

purchases in Piraeus: 295.26 m
Sum of incomes for Piraeus + : 515.5 million Euros

The corresponding figures for the port of Corfu are as follows:

Table 10: Corfu port revenues

. Passenger and crew expenses in Corfu
Approximately 600,000 passengers in 2011
Revenues from home porting passengers (10%) 60,000 * 400 Euros= 24.0 m
Revenues from transit passengers (90%) 540,000 * 61.5 Euros = 33.2 m
Revenues from crews 3.1 m
Total revenue from passengers and crews 60.3 m
. Total revenue from goods and services purchased in Corfu: 80.8 m
Sum of incomes for Corfu (without multipliers) + 141.1 million Euros

Corfus revenues with island multiplier: 307.8* million Euros

* 60.3 (revenues from passengers and crews)*2.18 (island multiplier) = 131.4 + 80,8*2*18=176.4 (company
purchases) = 307.8 million in total.

5
The observed small difference between the theoretical calculations in Table 8 (344.6 million) and Table 6 (332.1 million)
probably due to a slightly increased average cost per passenger (approximately 3.6%), or a corresponding difference in the exact
number of passengers, or finally, to a combination of both.
6
Revenues from goods and services are calculated with the same method as before: (total revenue from passengers and crews) =
220.3 * 2 440.6 million, minus 33% (costs related to construction and repairs) 145.4 = 295.2 million.

13
With the benefits for Attica - in terms of
receipts- exceeding the half a billion Euros
mark and for Corfu exceeding the total
receipts of Santorini which has twice the size
Table 11: Nationwide cruise income (without income multipliers)
Revenues from passengers and crews (table 8)
Revenues from home porting passengers and crews = 159 + 8.7 =
(Piraeus 135m + Corfu 24m = 159m * 5,5 % = 8,7m from crews)
. Total revenue from home & transit passengers and crews
. Total revenue from goods and services by company purchases
Sum of incomes + :
*This size is consistent with the general calculation in Table 7, where nationwide revenues are formed to 1,190.1 billion / year.
By applying the income multiplier on passenger and crew spending in island destinations, the total
revenue nationwide - is calculated as follows:
Table 12: Nationwide cruise income (adjusted with the island income multiplier)
Revenues from transit passengers and crews (table 8)
Revenues from home porting passengers and crews
(see previous table)
. Total revenue from home & transit passengers and crews
. Total revenue from goods and services by companies
* 682.7(table 11) + (80.8(table 10)*2.18)= 682.7+176.1=858.8m
Sum of incomes + :
This amount places the cruise market between
those sectors of the Greek economy which
have a distinct contribution to the GDP. In
terms of national account figures, direct cruise
revenues are close to 0.7%, somewhat less
5. Conclusions and suggestions
A. The long term cruise growth rate in Europe
is positive, and the industry does not seem to
be unduly influenced by the global economic
downturn. It remains to be seen if that lasts in
view of the recent troubles of the euro zone.
Cruise ships are getting bigger and more
luxurious providing high quality services; at
the same time the participation in cruises
becomes more accessible to wider social strata
as a result of falling marginal costs with the
advent of bigger vessels. The saturation of the
Caribbean, the political instability in North
Africa and the sinking of the ship Costa
Concordia in Italy are all expected to have an
impact on Greek cruises.
of passengers, it becomes evident that the
promotion of home porting in other Greek
ports should be a priority target. On a national
level Table 11 gives the big picture:
341.8 m
167.7 m
509.5 m
682.7 m
1,192*billion Euros
572.3 m
197.6 m
769.9 m
858.8* m
1,628.7 billion Euros
than 1% of GDP today, but there are good
prospects to reach this point and to exceed it in
the next few years, especially if one takes into
account the sharp downturn in the Greek GDP
since 2008.
B. The number of ships calling at Greek ports
and the average cruise ship size during
2010/2011 have shown an increase confirming
the international trend. The average size of
cruise ship during this period 2010/11 has
been 1,140 passengers and the average number
of calls 1.5 ships per day for twelve months, in
each one of the eight major destinations.
During the period under consideration, the
theoretical average number of cruise visitors
was 1,710 persons per calendar day at main
destination.
C. The Greek ports which get over 500,000
thousand cruise passengers a year are just six
and they are all traditional destinations. During
the period 2010/2011 we have noticed a
significant increase of about 21.0% in cruise
14
visitors. If we deduct from this the
international long-term trend of increase in the
cruise sector which is 7.4%, the benefit for the
Greek cruise market from the so called Arabic
Spring was around 13.6%. This phenomenon
is likely to continue for the next two - three
years, but in descending order, depending on
the rate of the restoration of peace in these
areas.
D. All Greek cruise ports except the port of
Piraeus are in need of infrastructure
improvements and this is perhaps the most
important priority of a national cruise policy.
Based on average annual berth occupancy in
Piraeus (2 ships per week) the emerging
situation in the ports of Corfu, Mykonos and
Katakolon (4 ships per week), suggests
situations of overcrowding in the peak tourist
season. Nevertheless, Patmos although with
smaller ships calling - claims the top spot with
too many (9.2 ships per week) to its single
pier.
E. Today out of 17 ports with cruise activity
only 9 operate cruise terminals and three more
are under construction. Good weather in
Greece may allow for the lack of indoor areas
for passengers service, but today's increased
demands for handling large numbers of people
in limited time periods and with the obligation
for compliance to specific procedures, there is
a strong need for the use of modern cruise
terminals.
F. A strong prerequisite for the development
of the Greek cruise is the good cooperation
between the Municipality and the port
authority in a joint effort to create
infrastructure and to improve the conditions of
hospitality and touring.
G. Based on certain assumptions, it has been
estimated that the total expenditure of cruise
passengers and crews in all Greek destinations,
during a year, was 508.6 million Euros. The
overall benefit of Greece from cruises was
estimated at 1,192 billion Euros, without
taking into account local income multipliers
from this amount a percentage of 40% results
in the broader area of Attica. If we use the
local income multipliers for the islands, the
total turnover rises to 1,628.7 billion per year
(2011).
H. Among the most favored destinations are
Santorini, Mykonos and Katakolon,
nevertheless Corfu takes the first place due to
the benefits of home porting, being second
only to Piraeus.
I. For the first time Greek cruise ports
coordinate their actions and share knowledge
through participation in the committees of the
Hellenic Ports Association (HPA). Greek
cruise ports should spare no effort to preserve
this new institutional advantage and not to
abandon it, as it has happened in the recent
past.
J. The need for an orderly development of the
cruising industry in Greece is more necessary
than ever as a vehicle economic development,
but also as a means of improving the product
offered. On the other hand planned rather than
haphazard development will help avoid major
mistakes which in the past have resulted to the
loss of two decades of business and economic
progress.
15
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