Tourism Minister: On February 5, the first cruise ship in Thessaloniki

The first cruise ship will be in the port of Thessaloniki on February 5, as announced by the Minister of Tourism Vassilis Kikilias, after the working meeting he had with the COO of Fraport Greece, Ilias Maragakis, the Executive Chairman of the Board. of Thessaloniki Port Authority OLTH SA, Thanos Liago, the CEO of Dimera Group, member of the Board and CIO of OLTH SA, Artur Davidian and the Director of Corporate Communication, Public Relations & Corporate Social Responsibility of OLTH SA. Theodora Riga.

The arrival of the first cruise ship at the beginning of February, as the Minister emphasizes, shows the expansion of the tourist season and the cruise industry, which is so important for Northern Greece and is a strategic goal for our country.

In the meantime, the quality upgrade of the tourist product is progressing rapidly and in this context it was announced that the building upgrade of the port of OLTH for the cruise is progressing.

At the same time, the Minister of Tourism announced that with the cooperation of the Ministry of Tourism, Fraport, the TPA and the investor, the check-in and the transfer of the luggage of the travelers who will end up from the airport “Macedonia” in the port and will board the cruise, will be arranged by Fraport and OLTH.

The same will happen for the luggage of the passengers of the cruise ships who will continue their journey from the airport “Macedonia”. As he pointed out, through such quality services, Greek Tourism is upgraded, while visitors to Thessaloniki will have more time available in the hotels, shops and restaurants of the city.

“Such synergies, combined with the upgrading of infrastructure, enhance our tourism product and bring more revenue, which is shared not only with port or Fraport investors, but mainly with the average Greek family and the hundreds of thousands of employees in Tourism.” stressed Mr. Kikilias.

The following is the statement of the Minister of Tourism:

We are here today to start our joint effort with the CEO of Fraport and the company, regarding the airport “Macedonia”, with the President of OLTH and the investor of the port. First of all, I would like to announce that the boarding and disembarking, through the building at the port of OLTH for the cruise, is being upgraded. I am also pleased to announce that on February 5 we will have the first cruise ship in the port of Thessaloniki. This shows the expansion of the tourist season and the cruise industry, which is so important for Northern Greece and for our country in general.

At the same time, the Ministry of Tourism, Fraport, OLTH and the investor are in advanced discussions so that we can give more time and quality to visitors and travelers in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia and throughout Northern Greece. Check-in from the airport “Macedonia” and Fraport for the luggage of travelers that will end up in the port and boarding the cruise will be done automatically from the port to the airport and from the airport to the port.

Which means we’re taking the burden of checking in with their luggage off travelers – Fraport and OLTH take care of that – and giving them more time in the city, more quality moments of fun, culinary treats, more time in our hotels, our shops, our restaurants. We will strengthen such quality services with synergies and we will make it part of our tourism product, so that everyone can see in practice that Tourism is being upgraded in the country, that we are talking about quality Tourism, that we are claiming higher revenues and all this is shared not only with its investors port or Fraport, but mainly to the average Greek family, mainly to the hundreds of thousands of employees in Tourism “.

JOURNALIST: We are basically talking about upgrading services both from the side of OLTH and from the side of Fraport in the part of home porting, so the hotel in the area will be upgraded…

V. KIKILIAS: Imagine that travelers in Thessaloniki will enjoy another service. As they land at the airport, they will not have to take care of transporting their luggage on cruise ships themselves.

Respectively, coming to the port with the cruise will not need to check in, since the luggage will go directly to the airport. Everyone now admits that we have an excellent airport, the airport “Macedonia”, and that the port of Thessaloniki is constantly being upgraded. and investments are being made – I have already announced the start of one today. It is obvious that the upgrade of the infrastructure strengthens our tourism product and all this is shared among the people of Thessaloniki and the professionals of Tourism.