Industry Reports & Trends

The Tourism Ministry and the City of Athens in early September announced a twofold effort that will address the tourism disincentives of the city center and see to the creation of new infrastructure to attract visitors.

Greece seems to be focusing more and more on attracting Russian tourists and prospects are positive since arrivals from Russia are expected to exceed one million this year as it was announced at the Greek-Russian tourism forum “Chartering the Future” held 3-4 September on Crete. The Greek-Russian chamber of commerce organized the forum.

Greece this year dropped another six places in the rankings of 144 countries from 90th place to 96th in the Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013, released by the World Economic Forum last month.

“Our goal is to establish Athens as a final destination instead of a stopover destination through the expansion of its tourism product and for the average spending per visitor to increase,” the chairman of the Athens Development and Destination Management Agency, Yiorgos Broulias, said recently.

Jointly funded campaigns in the UK media between British tour operators and the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) to promote Greek tourism and attract last-minute bookings are underway, Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni told the UK media in late July during her first official visit to the country.

Special offers at Greek destinations and discounts on hotel prices did the trick during the peak August holiday season as Greek holidaymakers did in fact travel domestically although in obviously lesser numbers compared to last year, press reports said last month.

Greek tourism was not at its best in the first half of the year compared to competing countries such as Turkey, Cyprus and Spain, the Greek press said last month. This was mainly due to negative publicity abroad during the two election periods.

The visa facilitation pilot program launched in June that allows non-European Union citizens to enter Greece from Turkey and visit five Greek Eastern Aegean islands without a visa from a Greek consulate was said last month to be making big progress.

“Greece is back in business… There is great value for money, holiday prices are competitive and we still offer very good quality,” Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni recently told the foreign media. And it would seem that the tourism minister is right since the picture of Greek tourism seemed encouraging, at least on the islands, as Athens continues to count losses.

“If Thessaloniki is excluded by air travel then the city will be unable to spread its wings and attract more potential visitors, especially at a time when hopes to boost the Greek economy have turned to tourism,” the Thessaloniki Hotels Association recently said.