Industry Reports & Trends

The Travel & Tourism industry’s contribution to global GDP is forecast to grow this year by 3.7 percent and employment by 2.6 percent, according to the “Global Travel & Tourism Economic Impact Annual Update 2015” released this week by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

Greece is ranked 7th among the Top 10 destinations of choice for European travelers, according to data released on Monday by SETE Intelligence (InSETE), the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) research unit.

Rome and Corfu top Greek travellers’ choices for the upcoming Easter holidays, according to trivago.gr, with London, Istanbul and Paris in their first five picks.

The Greek cruise market showed signs of recovery last year with an impressive 10 percent increase in domestic passengers, after two years of sharp decline due to the country’s on-going economic difficulties.

Greece is among the Top 5 Dream Destinations for US travellers, according to TripAdvisor’s TripBarometer Study released on Wednesday.

Accommodation and food services as well as transport have performed well in the October-December 2014 period, according to figures released recently by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT).

“While aviation safety was in the headlines in 2014, the data show that flying continues to improve its safety performance”, Tony Tyler, the director general and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said on Monday.

Greece was ranked third in the leading destinations selected by Russian tourists for their trips abroad in 2014, recording a 17 percent drop compared to 2013, according to the Russian Federation’s Federal Agency for Tourism (Rosturizm).

On the occasion of International Women’s Day on Sunday, UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, called upon the tourism sector to step up policies and businesses practices that promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.

More and more Germans are expressing interest in travelling abroad and willing to spend more and do more, according to a study of German travel trends presented at this year ITB 2015 in Berlin, by tourism research company FUR.