Greece's largest port Piraeus (Athens) is interested in securing more cruise passengers from China while acknowledging the potential of the Chinese market is huge, a senior Piraeus Port Authority official said this week.
Speaking at the 5th Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum, that opened here on Tuesday, May 28, OLP Strategic Planning & Marketing Manager Theodora Riga marked the importance of attracting more Chinese visitors and presented an OLP report on cruise passengers from China visiting port Piraeus.
The survey revealed the typical Chinese cruiser has a budget of around EUR 10,000 and spends 7+ days on the trip. 45% of all Chinese cruisers are younger than 40. The same age group accounts for just 31% of passengers arriving from the USA.
China is the 2nd largest source market for global cruise tourism with a total of 2.4 million passengers annually, a long way behind the United States with 11.4 million cruise passengers, said secretary-general of Cruise Lines International Association Europe, Thomas Boardley, at the forum.
Around 300,000 Chinese travelers are expected to travel to Greece via all modes of transport in 2019, doubling 2018 figure of 150,000, Riga revealed.