Highlights From 21 Epic Days on a Swan Hellenic Expedition Cruise: Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti and Socotra

Connecting with communities 

Places like Socotra are not used to tourism at all, or Westerners like us.  But everywhere we went we were greeted with warmth, curiosity and smiles, whether it was in a schoolyard or in the mountain communities. I had the pleasure of travelling with Patrizia Zito, who strives to build relationships with local communities wherever she goes. 

“Swan Hellenic is a new company built by experienced people from the cruise industry,” she says.”But something that I like about this company is that they are brave; they really want to see what others don’t. We are the first company to come to Socotra. When another company says “why do you want to do this, if no one did it before?” I say “That’s why I want to do this, because no one did it before.”  

Having spent most of her career in the cruise industry, and as a passionate ambassdor for Swan Hellenic, Zito has big aspirations for Swan Hellenic to support communities and young people in lesser-known areas. 

“My hope is that when we are travelling in poor countries, we help the community, not only through Swan Hellenic, but involve the passengers in the project,” she says. “For example, in the Bissagos Islands in Guinea-Bissau, during the pandemic they were isolated for four years. Four years without water, four years without medicine, four years without doctors, four years with nothing. Next year, my project is to buy a desalinization machine for them, because before they can start a school, you need to give health to the people. We need to give education, yes, but water is your principal thing to live, to survive.”