Greek State Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis will chair a meeting of ministers at Maximos Mansion on Monday to try and resolve the issue of transportation at the island of Samothrace that left hundreds of tourists unable to reach Alexandroupoli on the mainland for over a week, government sources said on Friday, according to ANA.
The issue of the “Saos” and “Saonissos” ferries, both out for repairs indefinitely, has been resolved temporarily but is a long-standing one, having occurred again earlier in the year. Right now the two ferries running between the island and the mainland, the high-speed “Andros Jet” and the “Anax”, are filling in temporarily, the former during this weekend and the latter to August 25.
Apart from the powerful winds that prevented attempts by replacement ships to reach Samothrace during the long weekend of the Dormition, government sources said the basic problem is that the Kamariotissa port has serious safety issues. Accusing the previous government of negligence, the sources said that the seabed at the port is also in immediate need of dredging from the accumulated debris and silting, to prevent ships running aground.
Samothrace businesses, which tried to accommodate stranded visitors, have announced that the problem harmed the economy in the short tourism season on the island and has dealt a blow to its image abroad, citing high cancellation rates and travel directives by Balkan countries.
As a representative of island businesses Giannis Glinias told Athens-Macedonian News Agency radio “Praktoreio” 104.9 FM, “we have a long winter and a very short (tourist) season,” and the blow to the island’s image and revenues is “huge”.
“We are asking for immediate restoration of the transportation, and we request that the state and the Ministry of Tourism stand by us now so we can promote the island again,” Glinias said, “because normally Samothrace has another 40 days left to its season until the end of September, which appear to be lost already, at a huge financial cost.” He added that cancellations due to the issue reached “as high as 90 percent,” and that a campaign was ongoing to encourage visitors to come to the island. He also called for a permanent solution to the issue.
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