By Antonis Tsiblakis
Pro-bookings in March for Greek holidays in 2016 are reportedly down in all “traditional” tourism markets, sans the UK.
According to domestic tourism sources, pre-bookings in March, yoy, were down a whopping 26 percent from Belgium, 22 percent down from Austria, 5.9 percent less from the all-important German market, 16 percent less from the Netherlands and 5.5 percent from France.
Conversely, pre-bookings from tourists in the UK were up by 20 percent in March, as opposed to the corresponding month in 2015. Other increases were noted from Norway and Poland, both by roughly 6 percent.
The burgeoning Russian tourism market for Greek holidays recoded a positive trend in March, although slacked off from the 45-percent increase in pre-bookings recorded in February 2016.
Results in April will show whether the downward trend will continue, while sector analysts said “last-minute” bookings will determine the actual figures for the year, a segment of the tourism market that should be targeted.
Ryanair decision
In a related development, an announcement by Ryanair over the weekend announcing that it will end its summer flight schedule for Greece two months earlier than planned continued to cause negative reverberations in the domestic sector.
The smaller opposition PASOK party, for one, blamed the ruling SYRIZA-ANEL coalition for the development, citing the possibility of yet another increase in the VAT rate, which press reports claim will reach 24 percent.
Other industry sources blamed the expected “debut” of a tax on hotel stays as another reason for Ryanair’s decision. “N” reported last week that the government is eyeing a tax of one-euro per night’s stay for every “star” in a hotel’s category, i.e. another five euros on the bill for a one-day stay at a 5-star
