Athens At first it looked like a false start. Greece only opened to tourism in mid-May this year. But the Hellenic hoteliers and tavern owners were compensated for a weak spring in the second half of the year with an unexpected rush of tourists and a “golden autumn”.
The Greek summer: this year it didn’t seem to want to end. While the season used to end in October, this year many tour operators and holiday airlines extended their Greece programs until the end of November.
Actually, a reason for the Greek travel industry to be confident about the next year. “This season has gone well and the prospects for 2022 are even better,” said Tourism Minister Vasilis Kikilias. The new season should start in mid-March, two months earlier than this year. But a big question mark hovers over all plans: How is the pandemic developing?
Nobody knows the risks better than Kikilias. Before he took over the tourism department at the end of August, he managed the government’s corona strategy as health minister. In the summer it still looked like Greece had the pandemic under control. At the end of June, the seven-day incidence fell to 25. It is now 461. For a week, Greece has been a high-risk area again at the Robert Koch Institute. That dampens the desire to travel.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
The Greek tourism industry still hopes to build on the success of this year. The comeback exceeded all expectations. According to the Bank of Greece, 11.6 million foreign visitors came to the country in the first nine months, almost 90 percent more than in the crisis year 2020.
The largest travel nation was the Germans with 2.1 million visitors. In October the boom even accelerated: The number of arriving foreign air passengers rose by 127 percent compared to the previous year.
60 percent more visitors than last year
Some Greek islands are already reporting new records: 55 percent more holidaymakers came to Santorini in October than in 2019, the best year so far. Mykonos also reported more visitors in autumn than before the start of the pandemic. According to preliminary projections, Greece welcomed 19 million foreign visitors this year, 60 percent more than last year.
It is mainly thanks to the comeback of tourism that Greece is one of the growth champions in Europe this year.
(Photo: imago images / ANE Edition)
But not only the number of holidaymakers is developing better than expected. The guests are also more generous. According to the central bank, every tourist spent an average of 631 euros this year, compared to 535 euros in 2019. The increase shows the trend towards longer vacation trips and more expensive hotels. Apparently, many vacationers treat themselves to a longer and more luxurious vacation after the lockdowns. The rather high-priced Greece benefits from this.
The Greek central bank reported an increase in tourism income of 139 percent over the previous year for the first three quarters. By the end of September, 8.76 billion euros had come into the country – more than the eight billion that had been set as the target for the year as a whole. By the end of the year it could be nearly twelve billion. Finance Minister Christos Staikouras is pleased because tourism is an important engine of growth. In good years it contributes more than a fifth to the gross domestic product.
It is mainly thanks to the comeback of tourism that Greece is one of the growth champions in Europe this year. The EU Commission is forecasting an increase in GDP of 7.1 percent for the country. Only in Ireland, Croatia and Hungary are the economies expected to grow even faster. Independent analysts are even more optimistic: The rating agency Scope and Bank of America are expecting an increase of 8.6 percent, Citigroup is even forecasting 8.8 percent.
The growth prospects in Greece are also good for the coming year. The EU Commission expects 5.2 percent. This could mean that the country could return to pre-crisis levels in terms of economic output next year.
Corona remains the greatest risk
Whether these forecasts come true depends to a large extent on tourism. Giannis Retsos, President of the Association of Greek Tourism Companies (Sete), believes it is possible that Greece will hit the previous travel record of 2019 again next year. So far, this was not expected in the industry until 2023 at the earliest.
The German industry leader Tui assumes that the pre-crisis level of 2019 will be reached “completely or almost” next summer. Greece is one of the most booked destinations in 2022, as it was this year.
Industry experts see this as a success of the Greek tourism concept. “The focus in the post-Corona era is on individualizing holidays, on leisure activities and on lesser-known, not yet explored places,” says Ioanna Dretta, CEO of the Marketing Greece initiative. In return, she sees Greece as well positioned with its resorts, boutique hotels and family-owned pensions as well as the scenic and cultural diversity.
But Corona remains the greatest risk. In view of the current development in infections, the demand has currently decreased somewhat, says Christoph Führer, managing director of the tour operator Leitner Reisen, which specializes in round trips and group trips. Germany’s second largest travel company DER Touristik also observed that bookings have weakened somewhat in view of the dramatically increasing corona incidence figures. “People are currently still waiting,” says DER Central European Head Ingo Burmester.
In addition to the increasing number of cases, the new virus variant that has emerged in South Africa is now causing uncertainty. Greek politicians are reacting with tightened restrictions: 3G applies in retail and outdoor restaurants, 2G in indoor restaurants and all closed event rooms. The vaccination certificates lose their validity for over 60-year-olds seven months after the second vaccination if you do not have a booster vaccination by then.
“Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate!” Is the mantra of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. With this, he hopes not only to save the Christmas business, but also the 2022 travel season. The government assures us that there will “definitely not” be a new lockdown. But what is certain in this pandemic?
More: Summary of the summer travel: Many vacation countries do not yet see any sustainable recovery.