Greece's Hotels See Reservations Fall, Tourists Wary

ATHENS – With early projections for bookings showing as much as a 50 percent drop, Greek hoteliers are preparing themselves for as much as a 10 percent decline in business this year as the country struggles to right itself from a calamitous economic and political crisis. Greece is adrift without a government in place for the time being as May 6 elections failed to give any party a mandate and there have been repeated failures to form a coalition to run the government.
That uncertainty is making tourists wary of visiting Greece, especially as key rivals from Turkey to North Africa are siphoning away visitors by offering cheaper prices and better service. With Greece’s image being battered, the national tourism campaign in disarray, and frequent photos and videos of protests and riots being shot around the world, the country is being seen less and less as a favorable place to vacation.
Declines in bookings are being reported in Greece’s traditional tourist markets, such as Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium, but demand is reported higher from other Balkan countries, Russia, Ukraine, Israel and Turkey. In response, more Greek hotel operators are lowering prices, even for luxury resorts, in an attempt to attract skeptical visitors fearful of the crisis and as fears grow that Greece could give up the euro and return to the ancient drachma it abandoned 12 years ago.
Hoteliers in Iraklio, Crete, say the bookings picture showed stabilization from June. On Paros, the fall was around 20-30 percent for May and June, while on Zakynthos bookings were at much lower levels from all markets except Russia. On Naxos, many hotels have not even opened yet and local hoteliers consider a 20 percent drop forecast as optimistic. The Lefkada Hoteliers Association said it projects bookings down 25 percent as the island has been hit hard by the abolition of domestic, government-subsidized tourism.
Hoteliers in Halkidiki say that without any more political upheavals, the drop may be trimmed to single digits from the current 15 percent. Many hotels in northern and southern Corfu are still shut. Lower foreign bookings are also the case on the island of Evia and Porto Heli, Argolida, which have the advantage of accessibility by road. In Laconia, southern Peloponnese, hoteliers also report much fewer booking calls. The islands of Kos and Cephalonia seem to be the exceptions, as business is projected to rise.
Earlier, Andreas Andreadis, President of the Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises, said that bookings had recently fallen 50 percent over a two-day period, the Athens News Agency reported. He said it was very difficult to reverse the prevailing negative image of the country in the markets from Germany, UK and France and that any further increase from the Russian market would not counterbalance losses from Greece’s traditional tourism markets. Alexandros Aggelopoulos, a member of the association, said that the prevailing political situation in Greece was undermining the country’s tourism efforts.
With almost no money to promote itself, Greece is counting on free help, such as the offer by Greek-American restaurateurs to put “Visit Greece” napkins on customer’s tables. Tourism officials said they expect this year’s arrivals to fall by 7-10 percent, and revenues to drop by 10 percent.
With about 15 million tourists a year, Greece ranks only 10^th in Europe, behind France – the world leader with 76.8 million – Spain, Italy, the UK, Turkey, Germany, Austria, Ukraine and Russia. Greece ranks 16^th in the world but does very little promotion. Tourism is the biggest revenue raiser, with 18 percent of the country’s $300 billion Gross Domestic Product, although Greece suffers from a lack of top quality hotels and has frequent complaints about poor customer service.
(Sources: Kathimerini, ANA)