An effort to reduce congestion which occurs on Santorini during the high season when plenty of cruise ships and passengers visit at the same time is now in full swing.
The famous Cycladic island will in 2018 be able to host just 8,000 visitors daily, down from 12,000 or more during 2017 and previous years.
The municipal port fund of the island and the municipal authority have activated a system of scheduling & limiting ship calls and already requested that cruise lines not only modify arrival days but also the times of visits in order to spread them evenly over the course of day.
On the days when up to 6 ships have stopped at Santorini at the same time, visitors to the villages of Fira or Oia know all about the congestion on the roads, which downgrades visitor experience.
This is why in 2018 the port fund decided to introduce the berth allocation system, with its president, Ilias Pelekis, explaining that 439 cruise ships have registered for this year, compared to 409 in 2017. There have already been a total of 451 ship registrations for 2019.
However, since cruise ship visits tend to occur on the same weekdays (Tuesdays and Wednesdays) the port fund sent letters to cruise lines so that they can alter the arrival and disembarking times in order to avoid the usual congestion on Santorini Island.