The 2023 Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum will be held in Thessaloniki next Spring, as the organisers of Greece’s premier cruising and yachting conference have decided to move the biennial event away from Athens for the first time since its inception 11 years ago.

The 7th Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum (PSTF) will take place at Thessaloniki’s Makedonia Palace Hotel, on 25-26 April, as Greece’s second biggest port is emerging as a major homeporting hub in the eastern Mediterranean and Balkan regions, because of significant investments and sea and airport infrastructure upgrades.

According to official statistics by the Hellenic Ports Association (ELIME), the port of Thessaloniki is expected to finish 2022 with a total of 60 cruise ship arrivals compared to just six calls in 2019, a tenfold increase. A total of 30 of those are attributed to homeporting, according to the Greek Ministry of Tourism.

Vassilis Kikilias, Minister of Tourism, said: “In September 2021, a few days after I assumed the Ministry of Tourism, the first trip I made was here, to Thessaloniki.
At that time, I placed a bet on Cruise. With a lot of hard and coordinated work by all stakeholders, the city’s port was upgraded and increased cruise ship calls tenfold compared to 2019. In fact, half of them involve homeporting activity, which adds more value.
This reflects an upgrade of the city’s tourism product and creates a boost to the local economy. As a crowning achievement of this effort, the Posidonia…