Tourism: The German market is recovering, Greece is high in preferences

By Vicky Kourlimbini

German tourists say they are ready to travel this year, leaving behind the restrictions of the pandemic, but also the insecurity in the holiday planning that caused the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The Germans even want to spend more holidays abroad this summer than in 2021 or 2020, according to new data published by ITB Berlin and the German research company Statista.

According to the Global Consumer Survey (GCS), more than 62% of Germans plan at least one trip in the next 12 months.

European destinations are generally high on the list of German holidaymakers. According to GCS, 54% of those traveling this year plan to vacation in Europe and an additional 18% in Asia, which ranks second.

The Covid pandemic has certainly affected consumer travel behavior, but it may not have changed it much, research shows. According to the GCS, the pandemic has affected the travel behavior of 90% of travelers in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.

This year, 36% of respondents in Germany want to spend more on vacation than before the pandemic, about 31% the same and 31% aim to spend less. About 50% have a travel budget of 2,000 euros or more, while 17% plan to spend over 3,000 euros on their vacation.

Nearly one in four (24%) want to do more outdoor activities than before the pandemic, according to the survey.
Greece is high

Demand, after the initial freeze, begins to recover for Greek destinations. Crete, Rhodes, Kos and Peloponnese are among the popular choices.

It is noted that for our country the German market is the largest and most important “reservoir” of visitors and revenue. Last year, according to the Bank of Greece, the receipts from Germany increased by 108.9% compared to 2020 and amounted to 2.37 billion euros – the highest number of all foreign markets – while travel traffic increased by 96.6% and amounted to three million travelers for a total of 14.7 million arrivals.

It is also characteristic that TUI offers this year in Greece the largest volume program of all time, offering 4,500 hotels in 24 Greek destinations. The German giant expects in 2022 about three million visitors to Greece from all European countries of origin of customers, ie a larger number of visitors than the pre-crisis levels of 2019. Due to high demand for Greek destinations, TUI starts the season in Greece four weeks earlier than previous years, with 62 flights within April to Crete, Rhodes and Kos.