Greece’s New Cruise Passenger Tax To Aid In Upgrading Port Infrastructure
Greece will now charge a tax on cruise ships to tackle the increasing number of cruise passengers to its most popular destinations. Cruise Ships berthing at the islands of Santorini and Mykonos will pay 20 euros or $23.62 per passenger.
Per the law, the tax will be applicable in other islands too, but in lesser amounts. Cruise vessels to smaller islands will pay 5 euros per passenger, per the new rules.
Greece estimates to generate 50 million euros a year with the tax, which will be applicable during the high tourism period from June 1 to September 30.
It adopted the legislation in 2024 to check the growing number of tourists and plans to use the tax money to upgrade its infrastructure, including ports, which are small to receive several cruise ships at once.
Greek Tourism and the cruise industry are booming, and cruise ship passenger numbers surged 13.2% in 2024 to 7.9 million, per the Hellenic Ports Association.
Mykonos, famous as a party destination, received about 1.3 million tourists last year, while Santorini welcomed over 1.3 million passengers, up by 4%.
Greece limited cruise ship arrivals to 8000 passengers per day last year, but on he firs day of the tax, 8400 passengers were scheduled to dock in Santorini, per port authorities.
Over-crowding and cruise tourism have led to traffic congestion, water shortages, soaring housing prices and waste management issues for the locals. A few residents also complain about the pollution from cruise ships, while local businesses say that passengers stay for a few hours and spend little.
The cruise industry has hit back, saying that cruise passengers are a small minority of the total tourists and generate two billion dollars in revenue annually for Greece. In 2024, 40.7 million tourists visited Greece, up by 12.8% from 2023.
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