Blue cruise may resume late June

AYDIN – Anadolu Agency

Cruising season in Kuşadası, one of the major tourist destinations in Turkey’s Aegean region, is set to begin after a break due to the coronavirus pandemic.

All precautions have been taken and all boats and yachts have been disinfected, said boat captains.

This year’s cruise season was scheduled to start March 1 but was postponed for three months because of the outbreak.

“We are ready now, all kitchens in the yachts have been changed and we will host holidaymakers by heeding social distancing rules,” said Ali Çolak, from the Kuşadası Cruising Cooperative.

According to the new measures, boats will operate at 50 percent capacity.

Çolak predicted that the blue voyage season this year may kick off by the end of June and said that activity will pick up gradually.

“First, agencies will bring in local tourists, then international flights will resume. Hotels will become full and then boats will welcome their guests. This is how the system will work,” he explained.

Boat owners in Kuşadası are leery, but hopeful. Erdal Yanar is one of them.

“Last year we were sailing off in the sea for cruise voyages four days a week. This summer, the number of trips will probably be half of what it was last year. We are hoping to cruise again if the pace of the pandemic subsides,” Yanar said.