(Athens) Greece is counting on a better tourist season than last year despite the war in Ukraine and its consequences: the explosion of prices and the loss of hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian tourists who have flocked in recent years especially to its islands and the north of the country.
Posted at 10:23 a.m.
“We have already had 600,000 cancellations of Russian reservations and 240,000 Ukrainian ones,” Lyssandros Tsilidis, president of the Union of Greek Tourism Operators (HATTA), told AFP, stressing that at this stage “the losses are amount to 700,000 euros”.
Like its European partners, Athens condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 before expelling twelve Russian diplomats working in the country. And this despite historical ties between Russia and Greece, Orthodox Christian countries.
The war in Ukraine will particularly affect tourist numbers in Crete, where 10% of traditional tourists “were Russian and Ukrainian”: “This clientele will not be replaced”, deplores Nikos Halkiadakis, president of the Union of Heraklion hotels, head -place of the largest Greek island.
However, after two years of pandemic, the government and tourism professionals want to be reassuring.
For Mr. Halkiadakis, “the return to normal must prevail and we hope for a better season” than last year.
Lifting of sanitary measures
“The (tourism) industry experts expect a doubling of the number of arrivals this year,” also insists Sofia Zacharaki, Secretary of State for Tourism.
And “the season has already shown a very encouraging picture which allows us to be optimistic,” she told AFP.
Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias welcomed Monday “the success of the government strategy aimed at opening the tourist season before the summer”.
The number of arrivals during the Easter holidays has increased in Athens and Thessaloniki compared to last year, “figures which justify our efforts”, he told private television Skai.
To boost its tourism, which represents nearly 25% of GDP, Greece began in February to lift restrictions against COVID-19: the screening test at the border is no longer compulsory for travelers with a certificate. of European vaccination.
From 1er May, the health pass will no longer be required in restaurants, bars and shops. As for wearing a mask, it will no longer be compulsory in enclosed spaces from 1er June.
“We are no longer afraid”
But the tourism industry is “one of the sectors most directly affected by crises” such as wars and pandemics, underlines the Secretary of State.
“After experiencing the worst in the past two years (due to coronavirus, editor’s note), we are no longer afraid, even if the pace of tourism recovery is slow throughout Europe due to the war in Ukraine” , explains the president of HATTA.
And soaring prices risk “changing the game”, he fears.
Energy prices have increased by “70%, food and beverages by 28%”, also sighs the president of Heraklion hotels.
Greece had experienced an upturn in its tourism industry in 2021 compared to the previous year marked by a confinement of several months.
In 2021, the number of visitors increased by 94% year on year, while tourism revenues jumped by 142%, according to figures from the Bank of Greece.
But if the professionals bet on a better season than last year, “the number of arrivals will not reach the record figures of 2019” before the pandemic, warns Mr. Tsilidis.
The year 2019 remains a reference year for the sector with a record number of 33 million tourists in Greece, which had strongly contributed to the recovery of the economy after a decade of debt crisis (2009-2018).