By
Alex Smith |
Cruise itineraries have been re-established between Greece and Turkey after the Greek Government lifted restrictions on ships calling at the Turkish ports of Galataport Istanbul and Kusadasi, which were imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Following communication with the two ports, the Greek authorities judged that both have established and maintained a public health emergency contingency plan based on European standards and have the capacity to provide an appropriate public health emergency response.
The communication between the parties has been facilitated by industry association MedCruise. Aris Batsoulis, president of MedCruise, met and briefed the authorities and national administrations in both Turkey and Greece. The organisation also organised technical site visits of the EU Healthy Gateways joint action team in the ports of Istanbul and Kusadasi in order to clarify the applied process and protocols in place. This was led by Batsoulis and MedCruise’s Secretary General, Aimilia Papachristou.