Greek tourism seems to be paying the price for the unending political turmoil in Greece. Recent developments urged agents to ring the alarm bell for the future of tourism, the most lucrative business sector of the country.
The president of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), Andreas Andreadis, noted that tourist reservations from foreign countries have dropped by 50% during the previous two days while he was speaking to journalists during the presentation of a new cruise ship in Marina Zeas.
That sets a big obstacle, as the already negative press coverage of Greece in Germany, England, France and other EU countries becomes even harder to reverse.
As tourism representatives explain, every possible increase in bookings from Russia will not be vast enough to outweigh the major losses recorded as a result of the post-election chaos.
Member of SETE and the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels Alexandros Aggelopoulos also pointed out that the current political situation in our country functions as a prohibitive factor for Greek touristic development.
Predictions for the year’s tourism are rather dark, as a minimum of 10% loss in revenue and 7-10% in arrivals are expected to be recorded. As hoteliers note, there are many possible clients who seem uncertain whether the country will have a “new” currency by the time they get to Greece and want to know if they will have to make their transactions in Drachma.
Sea tourism also presents disappointing data, as professional boats are driven to collapse as a result of total lack of strategy and advertisement of the sector, as president of the Hellenic Professional Yacht Owners Antonis Steliatos explains.
Tourism organizations call on political stability by the leaders so that predicted losses can shrink as much as possible.
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