07.12.2015
Эксперты из tourbus.ru обсуждают, удастся ли Греции статьthe main holiday destination for Russian tourists in the background closure of the Turkish direction
Greek travel business due to the collapse of the tourist Russia’s cooperation with Turkey hopes that Greece will succeed restore Russian tourist flow, reduced in the last two year due to the growth of the euro against the ruble.
Currently, Russia is practically the only key for Greece markets, this year showed a significant drop tourist traffic. So, in the first nine months, the number Russian tourists in Greece decreased by 62.1%, to 441 thousand. man, compared with the same period last year. By data of the Bank of Greece, and income from tourists fell: for the reporting period Russians brought to the treasury of Greece 342 million euros, which is 69% less than was a year ago.
According to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, the hopes of the Greek tourist business may well come true. As previously stated the executive ATOR Director Maya Lomidze, Russian tourists who were planning visit Turkey in the summer of 2016 is likely to be chosen as Mediterranean country alternatives, such as Greece, Italy, Spain and Croatia.
Behind the changes occurring in the Russian market, carefully monitored and the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO). how declared GNTO general secretary Dimitris Trifonopoulos, the Ministry of Tourism of Greece is already preparing packages of proposals to increase the attractiveness of the country for tourists and has plans to make Greece the main direction for Russian tourists.
“Now Greece is somewhere on the fifth line. After the disaster the plane over Sharm el-Sheikh Greece has already taken some steps and offered the Russian side travel packages in order to Russians could safely spend Christmas and New Year in Greece, “- quotes the head of the GNTO RIA Novosti. Dimitris Trifonopoulos noted that due to the crisis in Greece, prices for tours, so now they are more accessible to Russian tourists.
Greek Tourism Ministry wants Russian tourists to visit country not only in the summer months, but the whole year. Promising Trifonopoulos considers, in particular, weekend tours – city break, which are actively promoted in the last two years and are becoming increasingly popular. And this trip to weekends not only in Athens and Thessaloniki, but also in small historic cities, to the islands.
Tourism is one of the key sectors of the Greek economy: it provides 20% of the national income of the country. It is noteworthy that in this year, despite political difficulties at the peak of the summer season, Greece will set a record of attendance by foreign tourists: the country expects 26 million foreign guests to bring to the treasury countries 14.5 billion euros in revenue. Recall that in 2014 Greece took 25 million foreign tourists.
“Despite the problems in the industry associated with the closure two popular destinations – Turkey and Egypt, we are optimistic We look at the upcoming season. In particular, because Greece is like tourist destination can provide decent holiday alternatives, including all-inclusive. I guess, that much of the demand can be redistributed to Greece “, – said Dmitry Litvinov, director of development for the company Onlinetours.
“We have increased the number of bookings in Greece, – noted Louise Glukhova, CEO of the company “Great Tour”. – And we have every reason to believe that indicators next year will be several times higher than this year. With this active return of Russians to the Greek resorts prevents first of all the euro rate. As for visas, there are no problems, and this, in turn, simplifies the acquisition of tours by Russians last minute. Depth of sales – two weeks, sales go well on New year. In this case, of course, while talking about the full recovery visibly sagging tourist flow is not necessary. ”
Source: TOURBUS.RU
