Greek tourism: A blow to Thessaloniki from the Israel-Hamas war

The conflict in Israel has dealt a major blow to the tourist market of Thessaloniki, as 11% of overnight stays in the northern Greek city come from Israel.

Israelis are tourists who travel 12 months a year and beyond purely tourist destinations such as Crete, Rhodes and Kos, they also visit Athens, Thessaloniki and Ioannina all year round, said the outgoing president of the Panhellenic Federation of Hoteliers Grigoris Tassios. speaking to reporters as part of a review of his six-year tenure at the Federation.

At the same meeting, the president of the Thessaloniki Hoteliers’ Union, Andreas Mandrinos, said that the blow to the city is great since Israeli tourists, according to data from the Thessaloniki Hoteliers’ Union, in 2022, were the first foreign nationality, again after three years .

As concerns Pelion

Mr. Tasios also referred to the effects on tourism of the recent catastrophic events in Thessaly, noting that the bet for tourism in the region and especially in Pelion is not to miss the Christmas season.

The milestone for the recovery of tourism in the affected areas after the catastrophic floods is the Christmas holidays, said Mr. Tassios, who also revealed that in the context of the stimulation of the tourist flow in Thessaly, the first tourist forum is expected to be hosted in Volos next May. which will be held by the Greek-German Chamber.

A very good 2023

For Greek tourism as a whole, he said that 2023 will be a very good year. He definitely emphasized, tourism figures in 2023 will move to higher levels than in 2019. Now the gap created by the war in Ukraine from the Russian and Ukrainian market has been fully restored.

Regarding the performance of the hotels, Mr. Tassios emphasized that operating profit will be lower, as operating costs will be higher, due to high food prices, in an environment of rising interest rates and lack of liquidity for businesses.

The forecast for 2024

He also predicted that 2024 will be an equally good year for Greek tourism, given the existing conditions, as our country has now established itself as a tourist destination in the minds of those who want to take a vacation and whether they come from Europe or the other side of the Atlantic, with flights from the USA and Canada also maintained for 2024. In fact, the dynamics of Greece as a destination is reflected in the strong demand recorded not only for 2024, but also for 2025, for which there are already pre-bookings from the UK market and mainly from Jet2 and TUI. The hoteliers’ contracts with the tour operators for 2024 have been signed with an average price increase of 5%-7% compared to this season.

As far as the environmental fee is concerned, the outgoing Hoteliers president emphasized that it should acquire a remunerative character for the destinations and be implemented in the six months from April to September, during the tourist season.