Almost 130,000 Australians travelled to Greece in 2013, a rise of 9.6 per cent of tourists, while Australia gets set to welcome Greece’s Minister for Tourism Olga Kefalogianni next month. Ms Kefalogianni will visit Australia to promote Greek tourism but also to sign the long anticipated Work and Holiday visa between Greece and Australia.

“Flying now is more affordable … with wages going up, more and more people are travelling,” Matina Kritikos, travel consultant

According to reports, Ms Kefalogianni will visit Melbourne on 12 and 13 May, Canberra on 14 and Sydney on 15 and 16 May.

While in Australia, Ms Kefalogianni will meet with tour operators in Australia, and also the Greek Community of Melbourne and HACCI.

She will also attend the launch of the Hellenic Museum’s program with the Benaki Museum on Tuesday 13 May.

Meanwhile, according to official figures, last year Greece received 142,642 tourists from Oceania, of which 129,112 came from Australia.

Matina Kritikos, travel consultant, Travel Horizons, Norwood, SA, says she’s noticed a significant increase from her clients choosing to travel to Greece, and does so every year.

“I find every year it’s increasing,” Ms Kritikos, who has had nearly 15 years experience in the travel industry, tells Neos Kosmos of Australians travelling to Greece.

It is estimated tourism to Greece from Australia will increase even more this year, with a majority of these tourists being ex-pats travelling on Australian passports.
Ms Kritikos says most of these make up the strongest group of travellers to Greece, known as the VFR (visiting friends and relatives) market. They tend to purchase tickets for a longer than usual holiday with no accommodation bookings, as their primary purpose of travel to Greece is to visit friends and relatives.

She says there are a lot more younger tourists choosing to travel to Greece; people mainly in their early 20s who have finished university, but also single people with disposable incomes who choose to travel to Greece. Ms Kritikos says many of those have a Greek background and tend to visit the islands, main cities such as Athens but also – and mostly always – visit the village or region that their family comes from. She says these tourists have been told by their parents and grandparents about Greece and want to visit and see their ancestry first-hand.

Ms Kritikos also mentioned she’s seen an increase in people travelling to Greece with a non-Greek background.

When asked why travel to Greece has increased dramatically and seems to be on upward trend, Ms Kritikos credits the affordability and accessibility of travel in 2014.

“Flying now is more affordable,” she says, adding that as cost of living increases and our wages increase, there hasn’t been a dramatic increase in the cost of flights. She says if people were to compare the cost of travel to ten years ago, the price is relatively the same.

“With wages going up, more and more people are travelling,” she says, adding “even five years ago, people were still paying nearly $2,000 for a ticket, and now you can pay that price or try and get early bird tickets which are even cheaper.”

In Australia, there are more direct flights from Greece and even though they leave mainly from Sydney and Melbourne still, there are now opportunities to depart from other capital cities such as Perth and Adelaide.

Ms Kritikos says the way we travel has changed dramatically from our parents’ generation who would see travel as a luxury.

“Our parents’ generation would save up so much and travel every five to ten years and stay 3-6 months but now it’s more accessible with direct flights and cheaper fares, more people are travelling.”

According to statistics industry figures, Australians are proving the most generous tourists and spend 12 or more days in Greece more than any other visitor and spend approximately 1,420 euros, with Canadians just behind with 1,207 euros, Americans who spend 1,098 euros, and the Russians with 1,005 euros.