As Greece is a country surrounded by sea and has a lot of islands, it developed a strong ferry system to facilitate the communication between the islands and the transportation of permanent inhabitants and visitors.
Over the last decades, the development of tourism in Greece has made it necessary to build a flexible and high quality ferry system. Such a strong system of Greek ferries started to develop in the 1970s, along with the first tourists to come in Greece. Those tourists were hippies looking for small and isolate islands, like Antiparos or Elafonissos, or remote beaches, such as Matala beach in Crete. Then, tourism became more massive and Greek ferries had to accomplish an important role: not only to transport tourists to the Greek islands, but also to contribute in the development of these islands and the improvement of the quality of life of the permanent inhabitants.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Greek ferries were quite slow and services were poor. However, over the years, services were getting better and time to cross the Aegean was getting less. The ferry companies bought new vessels that had modern facilities, new nautical companies were established and the Greek State would subsidize lines to islands quiet far from Athens, such as Rhodes, Kos, Lesvos and many other islands that didn't have much traffic.
Greek ferries today are modern and quick. They have improved a lot over the years and are constantly getting better to face competition. Many Greek ferries have pools, cinemas, play rooms and many other facilities to give their passengers an enjoyable trip. The more distant the trip is, the better facilities Greek ferries offer. Cabins are spacious and comfortable, while there has been a certain effort that all Greek ferries are accessible by people with special needs. Note also that Greek ferries pay extra attention in terms of safety on board.
However, it is not only the quality of services that has improved. Prices also have, since companies understand that in order to be competent, low prices are required. Greek ferries try then to reduce the rate of the tickets and special offers are frequently given to families, groups of passengers, passengers with car or early bookers. Each company has its own ticket policy.
Lines are also getting better, so that island hopping is promoted. As ferry lines usually cover mostly certain islands with much traffic, there is a great effort that Greek ferries will improve and expand their lines, so that more islands will be directly connected to each other. Therefore, both permanent residents and tourists will have the chance to visit more islands without having to change their ferry. This is truly an important advantage for the further development of tourism, as tourists who come to Greece are usually looking to visit many islands rather than settle and spend their holidays only in one. Therefore, a good system of Greek ferries is truly helpful.
Greek ferries are constantly trying to improve their services and prices to serve better their passengers. And they have achieved a lot over the past years, serving more than 25 millions of passengers that travel through all ports of Greece to the islands. by Daisy
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