Local cruise tourism sector open to testing sustainability
}Greek cruise destinations could follow the example of Dubrovnik and have a sustainability assessment by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), according to the local representative of the Cruise Liners International Association (CLIA).
The assessment covers four pillars of destination sustainability: destination policy and planning, community involvement and benefits, management of cultural assets, and management of environmental and natural resources.
After the recent presentation of the latest report on the Croatian city of Dubrovnik, Maria Deligianni, CLIA representative in the Eastern Mediterranean, said: “We are open to examining a similar project in Greece in the context of our good cooperation with the Greek destinations. Greece is the third most popular destination in Europe and has great potential.”
Addressing a GSTC seminar addressed to the Greek tourism market, Deligianni added that “the 5 million cruise passengers that visit Greece every year are about 15% of the total visitors in Greece, but still we want to be a big part of the solution, especially since some destinations’ economies depend on the cruise industry,” she added.
