Another ship will boost the ferry connection to Mount Athos, a sign of the growing interest in pilgrimage tourism, according to the statements of Riginos Tsanos to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency Radio “Praktorio 104,9 FM”, president of the companies group PRT and the shipping company Agioritikes Grammes, which has been active in the area for 12 years and operate this particular transport route.
“In recent years we have seen a significant increase in pilgrims, not only of people coming from different parts of Greece but also from abroad. For this reason and with respect to the Holy Community and to the trust that the Holy Fathers have shown us, the company and the group are constantly upgrading their transportation to Mount Athos,” Tsanos said.
The pilgrims who visit Mount Athos exceed 250,000, as he said, and there is an increase in traffic and trucks (about 10,000) due to the needs of the monasteries’ restorations and the works being done.
“However, last year we saw a decline in the number of Russian pilgrims and this was a blow, which we can say has been offset by the visits of Serbs, Romanians and Bulgarians,” he added.
Source: ANA-MPA
