A warm welcome event was held for the Japanese tourists that arrived on April 30th at Heraklion port with the Cruise ship Asuka II. The event was organized jointly by Heraklion Port Authority S.A. and Crete Region. Cretan traditional deserts, “xerotigana” and “tsikoudia” were offered to the disembarking passengers by members of a folklore group, dancing local Cretan dances and wearing traditional costumes.
The cruise ship Asuka II, that has a maximum capacity of one thousand passengers, reached the port of Heraklion at 07:00, coming from Rhodes. It stayed at the port till 17:00, when it departed for it’s next destination, Kusadasi. The ship begun it’s journey Saturday the 4th of April 2015 from Yokohama, in Japan, for a world tour that will last 104 days. It will return at Yokohama Thursday the 16th of July 2015, and during this time it will have visited 30 ports around the world.
A special welcoming ceremony was held on board by the Captain of the ship, for the President & Managing Director of Heraklion Port Authority S.A. Mr. Ioannis Bras and the Crete Region’s Vice Governor for Heraklion, Mr. Evripides Koukiadakis, during which gifts and emblems were exchanged.
The Japanese cruise ship Asuka is the second ship carrying Asian passengers that visits Heraklion port from the beginning of 2015, following the visit of Costa Atlantica on March 31st, carrying one thousand Chinese passengers on a world around trip. It should be noted that the Asian market is characterized as one of the most emerging markets in the cruise industry for the years to come, something that Mr. Bras has already acknowledged, making targeted efforts to attract it. It is a numerous, high income market, from which the local and the National economy can receive huge benefits.
