Greek tourism sector: Rate of summer bookings ebbs in second quarter

Expectations for another record-breaking tourism season in Greece this year have been slightly dampened over the recent period, with lower pre-bookings – even for the most popular destinations – attributed to soaring airline ticket costs, a recession in Germany and the twin scourge of rising interest rates and inflation in several major markets for arrivals.

According to sector executives on the sidelines of a recent Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) general assembly in Athens, although the year began dynamically in terms of pre-bookings in the first trimester, the pace has fallen off in the second quarter.

Another concern is the number of available airplane seats allocated for flights to and from Greece this summer, with the number up, overall, by 2.5 percent, compared to last year, according to the airdata-tracker figures collected by the tourism institute INSETE. However, four out of the five major markets for Greek tourism, namely, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, show a reduced number of available seats, by 14.9 percent, 8.1 percent, 2.2 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

Only available airline seats from and to the UK show an increase so far, 3.8 percent.

Of the 24.34 million available for travel to Greece, INSETE calculated that 15.2 million are from the five major markets.