Security on cruise ships has been increased to the highest level

While the ships of the cruise companies operating the Eastern Mediterranean voyage maximized their security, they turned to ports in Turkey due to the war between Israel and Palestine. More than 30 thousand new passengers are expected to arrive at the port in Aydın's Kuşadası district with ships whose Israeli route was cancelled. Due to the war between Israel and Palestine, security on cruise ships traveling to the Eastern Mediterranean has been increased to the highest level, 'Level 3'. Many of the world's leading cruise companies canceled their planned voyages to Israel's Ashdod and Haifa ports this week. Cruise ship companies and agencies started to change the routes of their ships to Turkey, taking into account the months of October and November, which are the busiest seasons of the Eastern Mediterranean cruise route. Reservations have started to be taken at the cruise ports in Antalya's Alanya, Muğla's Bodrum and Marmaris, Aydın's Kuşadası, Izmir and Istanbul. More than 30 thousand new cruise passengers are expected to arrive at Kuşadası Port, depending on availability.

Korhan Bilgin, President of Izmir Cruise and Sea Tourism Association (İZKUDER) and owner of a cruise agency in Kuşadası, stated that the number of cruise ship operators who decided to stop their voyages to Israeli ports is increasing day by day; “Companies started to turn to Alanya, Bodrum, Marmaris, Kuşadası and İzmir as alternative routes. Kuşadası and İzmir ports are upper band ports because their ship traffic is more intense than the others. We know that currently 8 cruise ships have made reservations for Izmir. We expect over 30-35 thousand passengers to Kuşadası with at least 10 cruise ships.”