Crete tourist guide

The position of Greek tourism in 2022

2022-02-20 19:52:09

Recently, the results of various rankings have been published frequently, which clearly indicate that Greece will be one of the most important players in the tourism market this year. It is worth noting that Crete is already one of the destinations with particularly high ratings. This trend is also confirmed by the ranking published by the European Best Destinantions portal, in which Crete took 20th place on the list of the best European destinations. Athens occupied a slightly higher position - 15th - over the last decade, it has repeatedly been at the forefront of the best European destinations.

To establish the list of the most popular destinations, the votes of over 500,000 travelers from 182 countries, ie from almost all over the world, were counted. In the summary of this ranking, the authors indicate Crete as one of the best places in Europe, which is ideal both for people expecting a carefree holiday and relaxation, as well as for lovers of wildlife.

Increase in bookings

These high positions of Crete and other Greek destinations in various rankings are beginning to be more and more clearly noticed in the number of bookings made so far. A few days ago, Greek Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias said January saw a more than 30% increase in bookings for tourist packages throughout Greece compared to the same period in 2019. This is a decent benchmark because it was the last pre-pandemic season.

When it comes to specific destinations, in the case of Crete the highest 37% increase was recorded in travel agencies from Great Britain. For Rhodes, the increase in bookings was 24% and Kos by 20%. The largest tour operators from Germany also confirm the great interest in Greece. TUI predicts that 3 million German tourists will go to Greece this year. DER Touristik, the second tour operator in Germany, announced an increase in bookings for trips to Greece by 20%, which translates into 1.2 million visitors. At the same time, these offices are already clearly signaling their interest in organizing trips to Greece in the fourth quarter of the year. This would mean that Greek plans to extend the tourist season are starting to take shape every year.

Minister Kikilias also confirmed the increased interest in Greece by clients of Swedish travel agencies. He also mentioned that 14 direct flights from the US are planned to be launched at the moment, which will start bringing American tourists from March 7.

Very good forecasts for Crete ...

This is for sure very good news for the Greek tourism sector. After two pandemic seasons, it can be assumed that in 2022 there will be a serious rebound in the industry. Manolis Tsakalakis, President of the Rethymno Hoteliers' Association, emphasizes that if all goes well and the pandemic shows a downward trend, overall Crete will reach 80% of the traffic recorded in 2019 this year. For the whole of Greece, he forecasts tourist traffic at the level of 75% of that achieved in 2019. Tsakalakis predicts the start of the official tourist season in Crete 1-2 weeks before Easter. Of course, some hotels will open earlier, but the determinant of the beginning of the season is the opening of most of the hotel base.

… And a very big problem

Despite good forecasts for the season, Tsakalakis raised an issue that will be a nightmare for hotel owners this year. The closure of hotels during lockdowns for many months forced the existing employees to retrain and look for jobs in other industries. Now it turns out that a large number of them no longer plan to return to their previous occupation. The lack of waiter service and cleaning staff is particularly noticeable.

In some parts of Greece, such as the Cyclades and the Dodecanese, up to 50% of the workforce is lacking. For a country that lives off of serving tourists, such staff shortages are a huge problem, especially in the face of increased interest in traveling to Greece. In order to avert the impending crisis, large hotel chains have already started searching for employees outside Greece.

The first summaries of the pandemic

At the same time, official statistics for the first year of the pandemic have recently been published. According to the data from these reports, the year 2020 brought a real crash of tourists' visits to Greece. In 2019, 36.6 million visits were registered in Greece, and in 2020 only 8.3 million visits. Thus, a decrease of as much as 77% was recorded. An equally dramatic crash affected Greece's tourism revenues, which fell by 76% in 2020. In 2019, this branch of the economy brought the Greek budget EUR 17.7 billion, and in 2020 only EUR 4.3 billion.

How did the entire region of Crete fare against this background? Unfortunately, there are no surprises and significant deviations from the national average. A very short tourist season, high uncertainty for the future and difficulties in travel resulted in 77% less visits to the island in 2020 compared to the 2019 result. In 2019, 5.3 million visits were reported, while in the first year of the pandemic, only 1.2 million. Fewer tourists are also the decrease in revenues from tourism, which in the case of this region reached 76% compared to 2019. In 2019, Crete put 3.6 billion euros in a Greek piggy bank, and in 2020 only 861 million.

We will have to wait many more months for the official results for 2021, although it is already known that the previous year was much better. Nevertheless, a real rebound in the tourist market can only be expected in the coming months of the season, which we wish the Greeks with all our hearts.

Gosia,  2022-02-20 19:52:09

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