Positive signs for tourism, the revenue battle begins

By Vicky Kourlimbini

The increased traffic recorded both during the days of Easter and the three days of May Day are for the entrepreneurs of the tourist market the ideal springboard for the start of this season. Satisfaction with the course of bookings so far is evident and already the occupancy of accommodation has begun to rise to the popular destinations that are high in the preferences in travel packages: Mykonos, Santorini, Heraklion, Chania, Rhodes, Kos, Corfu and Zakynthos filled with foreign tourists. It is characteristic that in the above destinations the fullness these days reaches up to 90%, with the prospects being very optimistic, both for May and June.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, the fullness of the destinations for the Easter holidays, in open accommodation reached 85% in Mykonos, in Heraklion 85%, in Santorini 90%, in Ioannina 90%, in Nafpaktos 100%, in Etoloakarnania 80%, in Evia 90%, in Thassos 80%, in and Kalavrita 70%. These data concern both Greek travelers and foreign visitors who are already in the country, such as Americans in Santorini, Romanians in Thassos, Israelis in Ioannina, French in Heraklion. “Reservations are increasing, destinations are increasing but we are not complacent and with a door to door strategy I plan to visit many neighboring countries, such as Romania and Serbia that bring road tourism, but also countries that have a strong tourist brand in Greece such as the Scandinavian.” said Mr. Kikilias who has already visited and concluded agreements with tourism professionals in France, Israel, Great Britain. From the USA direct flights started earlier than ever and we will have 480,000 thousand passengers by October.

The revenue target

2019, before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, was a record year for Greek tourism. Revenues increased by 12.8% compared to 2018, reaching 18.2 billion euros. Arrivals of visitors from abroad reached 31.3 million travelers, compared to 30.1 million tourists in 2018. At the same time, travel traffic through airports increased by 1.6%, while that through road stations by 9%.

Entrepreneurs in the tourism market, after two years of heavy losses due to travel restrictions imposed by the pandemic, now see that in terms of arrivals Greek tourism can reach the levels of 2019. The big bet is that revenues will reach similar levels. .

Good start

Travel receipts recorded a new leap in February, rising more than 300%, as did incoming travel traffic, with the travel balance showing a surplus of 63m euros, according to the Bank of Greece.

In the period January-February 2022, travel receipts increased by 306.2% compared to the corresponding period of 2021 and amounted to 273.0 million euros. In particular, receipts from Germany increased by 243.5% and amounted to 39.6 million euros, while receipts from France increased by 451.4% and amounted to 10.9 million euros. Receipts from the United Kingdom increased by 477.2%, amounting to 29.5 million euros and 14.8 million euros were revenues from the USA.

At the same time, the incoming travel traffic increased by 282.5% and amounted to 658.4 thousand travelers, compared to 172.2 thousand travelers in the corresponding period of 2021.