Τhe 8th Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum’s Conference and Exhibition will be held in Heraklion, Crete, taking place on May 6-7, 2025. Crete is Greece’s largest island and one of its most popular and long-established tourism and cruise destinations and Heraklion is the island’s major city and a significant air and sea hub. Heraklion port is the island’s biggest port and serves as both a homeport and transit port with immense growth potential and is expected to welcome some 225 calls in 2024.

The impressive rebound of cruise tourism in the post-pandemic years has enabled the industry to resume its dynamic growth trajectory. For ports and destinations, as well as for service providers, the return to normality has been a slower and more complicated process.

At the same time, there has been a great deal of press coverage relating to over-tourism in a number of cities and destinations throughout the Mediterranean. Is this a new reality that the tourism industry must come to terms with or is it actually a phenomenon of circumstantial overcrowding or even limited to specific locations? Can the cruise sector effectively help mitigate overcrowding in some of the marquee destinations that seem to be most affected?

Apart from this crucial debate, cruise executives and key destination stakeholders will have the opportunity to examine ways to secure a sustainable future for ultra popular destinations, as well as seek a cooperative approach towards introducing cruise passengers to new or emerging destinations with marquee potential. Μore nearby destination alternatives will add scheduling flexibility, as well as travel experience value and passenger satisfaction. Among alternative destinations some could be raised to marquee status, as there are still many bypassed Mediterranean gems that deserve to be given the chance to evolve commercially, develop adequate infrastructures and share the benefits.

Further to the above, topics to be discussed during the Forum’s 2-Day Conference will include destination sustainability, destination marketing and delivery, guest immersion and satisfaction, overcrowding, new destination entries, port infrastructure, “green” practices and solutions, effective berth allocation solutions and daily caps on arrivals.

CLIA will again be actively involved in the Forum, together with senior cruise line executives and industry decision makers with extensive knowledge and operational knowhow of the Mediterranean will also be attending the event. During the Conference, speakers will share their thoughts and address issues common throughout the whole of this destination-rich region.

The event’s busy exhibition floor will serve as the platform for the region’s destinations and stakeholders to meet with itinerary planners, while new infrastructure projects and port investments currently in full swing will be showcased to the cruise industry. Cruise executives from the major cruise lines will again be attending, keen to meet with both established and new destinations, keen to capitalise on the repaid growth of the industry.