Arrival Decline Continues

In the recent release of their annual study on Greece’s tourism sector, the directors of Hellenic Tourism Organization offices abroad estimate that arrivals this year will drop by 5.5% against last year, and that the initial outlook for 2005 is not particularly promising concerning arrivals to Greece from its 23 traditional markets.

According to their study, only five traditional markets for Greece’s tourism sector managed to post an increase in arrivals this year: Australia, Switzerland, Canada, Japan and Italy. Six countries showed no change over last year and all others are expected to post declines of anywhere between 3% and 30%.

In all, the estimations by the offices abroad of a drop in almost 6% follows on the heels of a 2.5% arrival drop last year from the markets mentioned, which was followed in turn by a 1.7% drop posted in 2002. And along with the drop in numbers, it is taken for granted that the amount of tourism foreign exchange left here this year is substantially lower as from the U.S. alone – the heaviest spenders along with the Japanese – the drop in arrivals reached 30%.

As well, the estimations released within the directors’ “Development of 2004 Tourism Movement,” shows that even in Greece’s major markets, the UK and Germany, arrivals this year dropped by 12% and 5% respectively.

GREECE’S TOURISM ARRIVALS

However, if arrivals from non-traditional countries are added it’s quite possible that total arrival figures may hover between the 13 million and the 14 million mark. These arrivals from other than those countries represented by tourism organization offices include neighboring countries, mostly for immigration and shopping visits, all of which showed an increase of 12% in 2002 when compared with 2001. Although there are no official arrival figures for 2003, tourism professionals believe the numbers from these other countries, including China, will continue to increase.

Separately, according to a recent European research released recently, Greece held sixth place last year as Europe’s favored destination. The study says 10.3 million Europeans visited Greece in 2003, which represents 4% of all Europeans who traveled last year.

According to the research project, which covered 35 European countries, some 338.6 million people from these countries, 0.8% less then the year before, traveled outside their borders – 228.7 million traveled for leisure reasons – and spent 219.1 billion euros, or an average of 958 euros each. As for the length of their vacation, the average European spent 10.2 overnights in lodgings.

Because Greece is considered a destination for long vacations, says the study, it takes the seventh position in Europe’s list of four and more overnights, which makes up 5% of the total.