Cabotage to be lifted

HIGHLIGHTING the importance which the government attaches to tourism for Greece’s economic recovery, Prime Minister George Papandreou announced the lifting of cabotage restrictions that have prevented foreign cruise ships from operating along the Greek coastline.

“The government is ready to make any decisions regarding the strategic sectors of the Greek economy that serve the interests of national prosperity,” Papandreou said on April 21 while addressing the annual general assembly of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE).

Responding in particular to the steadfast demand of tour operators and travel agencies for the lifting of cabotage, he announced that “a dialogue will be held with all the agencies involved in the sector until the end of May, so that the lifting of cabotage on cruise ships can go ahead immediately”.

Greek tourism, Papandreou said, “has already paid a heavy price for its cabotage bans by lagging behind its competitors in the rapidly rising sector of international cruise shipping”.

“This was one of the most important decisions we have taken for the development of Greek tourism,” Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Angela Gerekou told the Athens News.

Many benefits

“An added fiscal and tourism revenue of millions of euros per year will arise from the enhanced operation of foreign cruise ships using the Greek mainland or island ports,” Gerekou said. “This will come as a major boost to the earnings of the local hospitality industry at a time of recession.”

Gerekou noted that the longer-term benefits from the cabotage breakthrough will also be substantial, including the extension of the Greek tourism season, the development of new destinations along the country’s vast coastline and increased turnover at the country’s major hotels in Athens, Thessaloniki and Crete.

Mainly in order to protect the salaries of Greek crews and port personnel, existing cabotage restrictions keep Greek coastal passenger and cargo shipping reserved for Greek-flagged vessels in which 100 percent of the ship’s shares must be owned by Greek nationals or by Greek business entities, more than half of whose capital is held by Greek nationals.

No airport charges

Papandreou also announced that throughout the summer holiday season, all aircraft will not be charged landing and takeoff fees in Greek airports, in an effort to attract more low-cost passenger carriers and charter operators. But the Athens International Airport will be exempted from this measure, the premier said.

Tourism represents 17-18 percent of the Greek GDP and employs more than 850,000 people, SETE president Nikos Angelopoulos noted in his speech.

Culture Minister Pavlos Yeroulanos told the SETE meeting that “the current crisis will change Greece forever. We will either retain an anachronistic tourism model or we will dare radical changes that will give us more revenues in the future.”