In the shadow of the Russian-Ukrainian war this year’s tourist season

By Vicky Kourlimbini

This year started with many expectations for the course of the tourist season, as signs of de-escalation of the pandemic had already begun to appear. But those who are well acquainted with the field of tourism have always said that the course of the tourism economy depends each time on many asterisks and unpredictable situations can overturn any forecast.

That is why they pointed out at every opportunity that geopolitical stability is required for the season to go well. Coronavirus was something no one expected, for example. The Russo-Ukrainian War followed to spread even more uncertainty in the tourism industry.
At the beginning of February the picture from tour operators, airlines, hotels and cruises was very good, while according to the Ministry of Tourism from the first days of the year there was a sharp increase in bookings. In particular, the increase in bookings in January reached 30% compared to 2019, ie before the outbreak of the pandemic.

Indicatively, the largest tour operator in Europe, TUI, has planned instead of 1.5 million visitors, to bring 3 million visitors to our country this year.

For the last two weeks now, industry players have been watching developments closely, without hiding their anxiety about the way things are going. It is not the part from Russia that seems to be lost for Greek tourism, as the shares of Russian tourists have been reduced in recent years (last year the travel traffic from Russia was 120 thousand travelers, while it is certain that there will be no flows from Ukraine and Belarus). It is the doubt about the evolution of the war, the flow of the refugee waves, the increase of the costs of energy and transport.

Market participants can not yet estimate how much the tourist area will be affected, and in Greece, but also in the Mediterranean, however, they appear prepared for all contingencies.

“Institutionally we are obliged to prepare for the season. After two years of pandemic with losses, we want to use all the positive messages in the field of demand. It is like starting from scratch,” said the president of the Panhellenic Hoteliers Federation, Grigoris Tassios. in his introductory post at the Webinar organized by POX on the occasion of the BIT International Tourism Fair in Milan in April. “It is too early to speak safely today about the impact on tourism. Everything will be measured in the coming weeks” was one of the first reactions of SETE president Giannis Retsos at the beginning of the Russian attack.

Foot for the American market

In the latest positive news, however, that maintains the feeling of optimism, the fact that yesterday morning, earlier than any other year, the first direct flight of an American airline from the USA arrived at Athens International Airport. The flight took off from New York John F. Kennedy International Airport and was operated by Delta.

The “fund” of 2021

Last year, according to the Bank of Greece travel receipts increased by 146.7% compared to 2020 and amounted to 10.6 billion euros. The increase in travel receipts is due to the increase in incoming travel traffic by 99.4%, as well as the average expenditure per trip by 22.1%.

In particular, incoming travel traffic amounted to 14.7 million travelers, compared to 7.37 million travelers in 2020. Traffic through airports increased by 109.5%, while that through road border crossings increased by 69.5%.