German media: Holidays in Greece are in great demand

Greece in summer is a favorite destination of German tourists, longing for Greek sunshine. And as the correspondent of the first channel of the public television ARD on the website of the news program Tagesschau points out, many Greek hotels on Greek islands are already overcrowded. Even Athens welcomes more tourists than before the pandemic. After the heavy blow from the coronavirus, Greece is experiencing a tourist explosion. He visited not only the Greek capital, but also a very favorite German destination, Rhodes. The hoteliers, as he describes, are completing the renovations of their hotels to welcome tourism. Reservation lists are overcrowded, tourists seem to be unable to wait any longer to leave.

“Praises for Greece”

“Unlike in the past, urban tourism is already booming in the last weeks of winter,” tagesschau.de wrote . “The war in Ukraine seems far away. Jenny, owner of a cafe in Plaka, is amazed by the crowds on the streets, apart from the Greeks, there are already many foreigners in Plaka, incredibly many. At this time her work is doing better than before the pandemic. The German tourist group TUI expects that this year it will bring more tourists to Greece than in 2019, a record year before Covid.

The low-cost airline Easyjet is offering half a million more seats on its flights between Britain and Greece than before the crisis. Holidays in Greece are sought after, while the Association of Greek Tourist and Travel Agencies is also optimistic. Tourism officials, with whom the German reporter spoke, confirm that this year there is increased interest compared to previous catastrophic years, but can not confirm whether the record year of 2019 will be repeated.

“But even the comparison with the all time record of 2019 would be a success for the tourism industry of Greece after the years of lean cows,” notes the columnist. “Because no country in Europe is as dependent on tourism as Greece. One in five euros in the country is earned from tourism, every 5th job also depends on tourism … To balance the demand the Greek government decided to promote the start of the tourist season earlier than Orthodox Easter in April, in early March. German travel agents praise Greece, among other things, for good health protocols and transparency (in the process). It also bears fruit for Greece that it kept alive large parts of the hotel industry with short-term employee payments, with allowances and tax aid to companies.”