Eastern Mediterranean ports need to closely cooperate, says Greek tourism expert

IZMIR- A former Greek minister of agriculture and tourism and holder of the Abdi Ipekci Peace Award Anomeritis visited the Chairman of the Executive Board of the Izmir Chamber of Trade (IZTO) Ekrem Demirtas along with the Chief Executive Officer of Medcruise Line, Stavros Hatzakos, on Tuesday.

"We have arrived in Izmir to join the Turkish Cruise Tourism Forum on Wednesday. The cruise tourism would be beneficial for Eastern Mediterranean. Piraeus and Izmir happen to be the two biggest ports in such a destination," Anomeritis emphasized.

"Cruise tourism can not be performed with a single port. All ports in the region have to be successful for cruise tourism," Anomeritis stressed.

"We are not merely connected by a sea. Cruise ships unite us as well. Both Piraeus and Izmir market tourism and civilization. As ports in Eastern Mediterranean, we need to closely cooperate with each other," Anomeritis also said.

Demirtas, in his part, said that Greece in the past did not want to cooperate with Turkey during good times in tourism.

"Today, Turkey has become the sixth biggest tourist destination in the world. It is not too late for anything. We need to closely cooperate with Greece. In the Far East, we market Turkey and Greece together. Unfortunately, my Greek counterparts are not much interested in this matter. There are many Greek ports that can not take advantage of cruise tourism," Demirtas stressed.