GREECE Greek tourist industry stays optimistic

GREECE

Greek tourist industry stays optimistic

Political developments in Greece, a highly popular European tourist destination, are bound to have an effect on the industry in the coming weeks.

It's difficult to predict how tourism will develop in Greece over the next few weeks.

The situation is aggravated by the capital transactions controls launched last week, and certainly not helped by images broadcast worldwide of pensioners queuing in long lines in front of banks.

Nevertheless, neither German tour operators nor the Greek Tourism Association are pessimistic.

So far, they say, it's been a good year.

Drop in reservations

"Up until June 20, reservations were normal, we were looking at a good year and headed to surpassing the 24 million tourists that visited Greece last year," said Andreas Andreadis, head of the Greek Tourism Association. But beginning last week, reservations dropped by 30 to 40 percent, he said.

Mario Köpers, Executive Director for Corporate Communication at TUI, Europe's largest travel group and Germany's market leader for holidays in Greece, comes to a similar conclusion. He underlined that visitors have nothing to worry about during their Greek holiday.

Greece tourism suffers

"Apart from the fact that people on the street discuss Greece's future, everything is as usual," Köpers said, referring to his recent trip to Crete, the country's largest island and a magnet for thousands of tourists. Tourists in resorts and hotels aren't affected by the crisis at all, he said, adding that the logistics and provisioning are taken care of. "It's the same as always."

Uncertainty is problematic

That, however, is not true for the Greeks, who currently find themselves in an acutely difficult situation.

Uncertainty is their greatest enemy, said Andreadis. "The people do whatever they can, and it's touching to see how they try to keep the tourists happy so they won't be affected by the problems," he said. "Even if the Greeks are worried for themselves and their country, there are no problems at all for visitors."

German tourists have not been deterred much by the crisis, at least those who booked in advance. There have not been any cancellations in connection with the present situation in Greece, Köpers said.

Many German tourists book their vacation with a tour operator, and far in advance.

Alison Erkens is no exception. The 27-year-old and her boyfriend booked two weeks including half board on the island of Rhodes many months ago.

They were upset at the news from Greece over the past days, but didn't feel that was reason enough to cancel their holiday. "We've never been to Greece, and we're relaxed about it all," Erkens said. "At first, I worried a lot, but since we only take cash along anyway on vacations and don't use cash machines, we're not too concerned."

Both Köpers and Andreadis said foreign credit cards are accepted and function in Greece without any problems.

Second choice

Other tourists are now headed to Greek beaches after canceling their planned vacation in Tunisia after a massacre at a beach in Sousse last week left 38 people dead. Many travel groups offered rebooking without the usual fees in that case.

It's peak holiday season, Greece is mired in difficulties, and at the same time, the TUI group announced it has sold its stake in the Grecotel hotel chain. Perhaps business isn't as brisk in Greece after all?

It's just an unfortunate coincidence, Köpers said. "It's got nothing to do with the financial crisis, we simply want to concentrate on just a few hotel brands, and of course Grecotel will continue to be a sound partner for TUI."