Greek tourism sector official: Pre-bookings for 2017 very satisfactory so far

By L. Karageorgos & N. Bellos

Pre-bookings for holidays in Greece for the upcoming season are reportedly reaching double-digit figures, which are coinciding with a dramatic drop in bookings for neighboring Turkey, one of Greece's main rivals amongst Mediterranean destinations.

The recent terrorist attacks in the neighboring country have harmed the Turkish tourism industry and apparently steered would-be holiday-makers there to other Mediterranean markets, although Greek tourism officials continue to stress the need for a more careful management of the tourism sector's prospects in 2017.

"The recent terrorist strikes in Istanbul show that we're headed towards extreme situations, and certainly, if we look at the big picture, these developments are not positive for global tourism, and Greece's tourism sector, in particular, given how close we are to the incidents," the president of the influential Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), Andreas Andreadis, told "N" on Tuesday.

The influential Greek tourism official cited an overall geopolitical instability in the region, with the refugee problem still unresolved.

"We're experiencing a period of destabilization, and we must be very careful. Nevertheless, up until now bookings for our country are moving at a very satisfactory rate, which is reaching double-digit numbers; and this is, of course, very positive," he added.   

Andreadis estimated that Greece is currently above Turkey, Egypt and southern France in terms of popularity, but below Croatia, Spain and Italy.

"At the same time, the fact that neighboring destinations are essentially closed at present gives us the opportunity to attract a bigger share (of the tourism flows)," he said.  

Finally, the SETE president called for stepped up actions to deal with the refugee / migration problem, saying that in the minds of many tourists the issue is linked with security concerns.