Greece's Santorini Welcomes First Cruise Ship after Quakes
Greece's tourism jewel, Santorini, welcomed its first cruise ship of the year on Sunday after thousands of small earthquakes in February created a state of emergency, forced thousands to flee and had locals fearing the season would be lost.
Millions of tourists flock to Santorini every year, squeezing along its whitewashed cobbled streets to view its famous cliff-top sunset. The increased seismic activity - unprecedented even in a country as quake-prone as Greece - had prompted authorities to shut schools, halt construction and dispatch rescuers to the island.
On Sunday morning, the Celestyal Discovery docked in the sparkling Aegean waters off Santorini with around 1,700 mostly American tourists on board, Reuters reported. Celestyal Cruises had taken Santorini off its list earlier this month.
"It's exciting to know that the island's open again and we get to visit first," said 67-year-old Deborah Terry.
Another passenger, Julie Eberly, said she was confident the island was out of danger.
"We trust the tourism board here, so if they said it was safe to come, we came with open arms."
An island of around 20,000 residents, Santorini took its current shape following one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history around 1600 BC. It welcomes around 2.5 million tourists every year and its economy depends almost exclusively on tourism.
Locals said they were pinning their hopes on visitors returning to the island.
"We all hope that things will return to normal, that people will come back," said Tassos Kontos, a shop owner. "The cloud seems to be lifting."
No major damage has been reported on the island following the quakes, but authorities have said they will set up an evacuation port to facilitate the safe escape of people in case a bigger quake hits.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
8 hours ago
- Arab News
Families flock to Baha festivities to beat summer heat this Eid
RIYADH: As temperatures rise across Saudi Arabia, the Baha region has become a popular holiday destination, opening 80 parks, 30 tourist sites, 20 rural farms and 25 heritage locations to attract visitors seeking cooler weather during Eid Al-Adha. The mountainous region's moderate climate has made it appealing to families and young travelers looking to escape the heat affecting other parts of the Kingdom during the holiday, a Saudi Press Agency report said. Ali Al-Sawat, mayor of Baha, outlined preparations for the expected visitor increase. Municipal teams carried out maintenance of public facilities, upgraded lighting, improved landscaping, enhanced main roads and public squares, installed interactive displays and sculptures, and supported volunteer teams. Authorities stepped up cleaning and environmental health efforts while increasing monitoring of food establishments, Al-Sawat said. The holiday program includes more than 50 cultural, entertainment, community events and volunteer initiatives, such as gift and flower distributions, children's theater performances at Raghdan, Al-Hussam and Al-Hawiya parks, digital displays, charity visits to the elderly and patients, appearances by cartoon characters, and volunteer support for organization, cleaning and pilgrims. In a gesture to Hajj pilgrims, authorities will distribute 3,000 roses and umbrellas in Baha, each with QR codes linking to pilgrimage guidance developed with regional Hajj coordination offices. The region's 20 rural farms attract families with recreational facilities set in agricultural environments, the SPA reported. Fahd Al-Zahrani, regional director of the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, said that his office regulated and supported these farms, issued licenses for rural lodges according to regulations, and helped operators to access government programs, including the Sustainable Agricultural Rural Development initiative. Baha's 25 architectural heritage sites highlight the national identity by showcasing ancient civilizations and contribute to the local economy. These sites continue to attract domestic and international visitors interested in Saudi Arabia's cultural heritage, the SPA added.
Al Arabiya
9 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Philippines offers Indian nationals visa-free travel to boost tourism
The Philippines announced Saturday that Indian nationals will be allowed to enter the country without a visa for tourism purposes starting June 8. The visa-free policy aims to boost tourist arrivals from India, which increased by 12 percent in 2024 to nearly 80,000, according to the Department of Tourism. Despite that growth, Indian tourists still make up only a small fraction of the more than five million travelers who visited Southeast Asia last year. Under the new rules, Indian nationals can stay in the Philippines for up to 14 days without a visa. Those holding valid visas or residence permits from the United States, Australia, Canada, Schengen countries, Singapore, or the United Kingdom are eligible for a longer, 30-day visa-free stay.
Arab News
15 hours ago
- Arab News
Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy
BEIRUT: Fireworks lit up the night sky over Beirut's famous St. Georges Hotel as hit songs from the 1960s and 70s filled the air in a courtyard overlooking the Mediterranean retro-themed event was hosted last month by Lebanon's Tourism Ministry to promote the upcoming summer season and perhaps recapture some of the good vibes from an era viewed as a golden one for the country. In the years before a civil war began in 1975, Lebanon was the go-to destination for wealthy tourists from neighboring Gulf countries seeking beaches in summer, snow-capped mountains in winter and urban nightlife the decade after the war, tourists from Gulf countries – and crucially, Saudi Arabia – came back, and so did Lebanon's economy. But by the early 2000s, as the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah gained power, Lebanon's relations with Gulf countries began to sour. Tourism gradually dried up, starving its economy of billions of dollars in annual after last year's bruising war with Israel, Hezbollah is much weaker and Lebanon's new political leaders sense an opportunity to revitalize the economy once again with help from wealthy neighbors. They aim to disarm Hezbollah and rekindle ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, which in recent years have prohibited their citizens from visiting Lebanon or importing its products.'Tourism is a big catalyst, and so it's very important that the bans get lifted,' said Laura Khazen Lahoud, the country's tourism the highway leading to the Beirut airport, once-ubiquitous banners touting Hezbollah's leadership have been replaced with commercial billboards and posters that read 'a new era for Lebanon.' In the center of Beirut, and especially in neighborhoods that hope to attract tourists, political posters are coming down, and police and army patrols are on the are signs of thawing relations with some Gulf neighbors. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have lifted yearslong travel eyes are now on Saudi Arabia, a regional political and economic powerhouse, to see if it will follow suit, according to Lahoud and other Lebanese officials. A key sticking point is security, these officials say. Although a ceasefire with Israel has been in place since November, near-daily airstrikes have continued in southern and eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah over the years had built its political base and powerful military as a diplomatic and economic bridgeAs vital as tourism is — it accounted for almost 20 percent of Lebanon's economy before it tanked in 2019 — the country's leaders say it is just one piece of a larger puzzle they are trying to put back agricultural and industrial sectors are in shambles, suffering a major blow in 2021, when Saudi Arabia banned their exports after accusing Hezbollah of smuggling drugs into Riyadh. Years of economic dysfunction have left the country's once-thriving middle class in a state of World Bank says poverty nearly tripled in Lebanon over the past decade, affecting close to half its population of nearly 6 million. To make matters worse, inflation is soaring, with the Lebanese pound losing 90 percent of its value, and many families lost their savings when banks is seen by Lebanon's leaders as the best way to kickstart the reconciliation needed with Gulf countries — and only then can they move on to exports and other economic growth opportunities.'It's the thing that makes most sense, because that's all Lebanon can sell now,' said Sami Zoughaib, research manager at The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think summer still weeks away, flights to Lebanon are already packed with expats and locals from countries that overturned their travel bans, and hotels say bookings have been the event hosted last month by the tourism ministry, the owner of the St. Georges Hotel, Fady El-Khoury, beamed. The hotel, owned by his father in its heyday, has acutely felt Lebanon's ups and downs over the decades, closing and reopening multiple times because of wars. 'I have a feeling that the country is coming back after 50 years,' he a recent weekend, as people crammed the beaches of the northern city of Batroun, and jet skis whizzed along the Mediterranean, local business people sounded optimistic that the country was on the right path.'We are happy, and everyone here is happy,' said Jad Nasr, co-owner of a private beach club. 'After years of being boycotted by the Arabs and our brothers in the Gulf, we expect this year for us to always be full.'Still, tourism is not a panacea for Lebanon's economy, which for decades has suffered from rampant corruption and has been in talks with the International Monetary Fund for years over a recovery plan that would include billions in loans and require the country to combat corruption, restructure its banks, and bring improvements to a range of public services, including electricity and those and other reforms, Lebanon's wealthy neighbors will lack confidence to invest there, experts said. A tourism boom alone would serve as a 'morphine shot that would only temporarily ease the pain' rather than stop the deepening poverty in Lebanon, Zoughaib tourism minister, Lahoud, agreed, saying a long-term process has only just begun.'But we're talking about subjects we never talked about before,' she said. 'And I think the whole country has realized that war doesn't serve anyone, and that we really need our economy to be back and flourish again.'
