German tourists steadily “feed” Greek tourism and are in the last few years in the top positions with regard to the most important visitors’ for our country. At the same time, German companies with a strong presence in the hotel sector have been investing in popular destinations, following the way that Fraport opened with the 14 regional airports and looking forward to even higher performances of the Greek tourism in the coming years.
Developments in recent months show that the German “footprint” in Greek tourism is strong as demand from German tourists for the Greek market increases, whether it’s for traditional island destinations or for a city break destination. Indicative is the fact that for the eight-month period January-August, Venizelos saw an increase in passenger traffic from Germany of 22%, the largest in comparison with other European markets. Whether this rise may be due to Greek living abroad (Germany, along with the UK has received a large number of the so-called “brain drain”) or even in transit passengers, a major percentage of it is due to the Germans themselves who chose Greece in 2017 either for a short break or even for their summer vacation holidays.
The truth is confirmed by the data from the Bank of Greece published last Thursday, which show that the Germans “vote” in 2017 in favor of Greek destinations. For July, visitors from Germany increased by 10,1% compared to July 2016 and stood at € 370 million, while for January-July the corresponding increase was even higher by 13,5 %, exceeding € 1 billion (€ 1.059 million).
July’s was high and the arrivals (even higher are expected for August), with travel from Germany rising by 13,9% to 514.000 travelers, while for the last seven months the corresponding figures are + 16,6%, with a total of 1,562 million travelers. It is worth mentioning that last year, according to the data of the Bank of Greece, total travel traffic from Germany amounted to 3,139 million passengers (+ 11.7%).
High demand from the German market has boosted, and it is expected that German tour operators will further strengthen their presence in the Greek market. The giant TUI, who trades the largest number of German tourists in Greece and has already opened the bookings for the 2018 season in the Greek hotels with which they cooperate, maintains the first position. In recent developments, the group has announced new investments in Greece with the new project for the construction of a new Robinson Club in Crete (already operates two Robinson hotels in Greece, Robinson Club Kyllini Beach in the Peloponnese and the Robinson Club Daidalos in Kos). Similarly, Robinson Club Daidalos will undergo renovations to operate with a renewed face in the summer of 2018.
At the same manner and Allsun hotels, the Alltours’ hotel branch, which announced just a few weeks ago the agreement to acquire the 4-star Zorbas Village in Crete and a few days ago, took over the management of the 4-star Carolina Mare. “Alltours expands it’s presence further in Greece. We are expanding to a tourist destination that shows strong signs of growth”, said Willi Verhuven, chief Executive Officer of Allsun hotels.
