Industry Reports & Trends

The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington last month dealt a terrible blow to the tourism industry, but officials of the World Tourism Organization predict that the industry will demonstrate its characteristic resilience with a quick recovery.

Greece’s cruise industry, because a significant portion of its business comes from North American customers, is in for a tough time. Along with this, the industry also has to deal with the possible surge in oil prices, the likelihood of a global recession, the difficulties in air travel and the psychological shock from the terrible pictures of the World Trade Center towers shown worldwide. All these are expected to play a significant role in shaping the industry both in the short term and long term.

Domestic tourists, and some foreign visitors, are not happy with the services offered by Greek tourism enterprises. According to the General Federation for Consumer Protection in Greece (INKA), initial data show the tourism sector as a whole needs to upgrade its services and find ways to counter profiteering. Complaints up until early August numbered 4,222.

Greece’s tourism sector remains the country’s strongest economic leg, but according to the World Tourism Organization the sector will grow at a much slower rate in the next two decades and lose ground in favor of its neighbors.

Greece’s tourism industry is expected to host about the same level of visitors as last year, but prospects regarding revenue are less certain.

It looks as if the expected batch of mergers in the online travel sector has begun with the purchase of Expedia by USA Networks Inc. The Internet and TV cable company says it plans to become the world’s online travel powerhouse by taking control of the world’s second largest online travel agency and a leading online supplier of vacations and cruises.

With the recent agreement between the Chandris hotel group and the French hotel group Accor, whereby Accor takes over the management of the Chandris group, the Greek capital’s major hotels are for the most part managed by multi-national hotel units. This is in stark difference to Greek hotels outside of Athens that are family-owned and family-run units.

Private sector tourism professionals say we are in for a bad year, but the government’s tourism organization insists that we’ll see another increase in arrivals this year. The end result will most likely be somewhere in between.

Because government employees can not do their job properly and because government is unable or unwilling to give the proper incentive or education to rectify the matter, Greece loses billions of drachmas in precious tourism foreign exchange, says Yiannis Evangelou, president of the Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourism Agents.

A strong seasonal character, uneven geographical distribution, low per-capita spending of tourists and the absence of international hotel chains appear to be the disadvantages of the Greek tourism industry, according to an annual report.