Following a very positive 2011 during which foreign visitors totalled 16.5 million, the first signs for 2012 appear less promising, suggesting a challenging year ahead for the tourist industry.
The UK market, a benchmark market for Greece, showed that pre-reservations have fallen 75 per cent in the last few weeks (based on a sample accounting for 10 per cent of UK tourists). Pre-reservations from the UK market were down 5-7 per cent on average so far. Speaking to reporters, ahead of a Philoxenia travel fair in Thessaloniki, Andreas Andreadis, the president of SETE (The Association of Tourism Businesses) said a mixture of negative factors were impacting on Greek tourism in 2012 and were related with global uncertainty and fears of an economic recession, the creation of a continuing bad image of the country abroad and a partial recovery of northern African markets, particularly Tunisia and Egypt.
Andreadis said a new government should immediately proceed with actions aimed at strengthening the tourism sector. He called for a 50 per cent cut in airport taxes (burdening passengers by 42 euros in Athens, compared with 16 euros in Istanbul or Barcelona), saying the state could have three or five times more revenues as it would attract more airline companies and more tourists in the country.
Source: Athens News