Bookings for Greece by the biggest German tour operators for this month and next may have recorded an annual growth of 7 to 9 percent, but Turkey has posted a 100 percent year-on-year increase, senior officials in the German tourism industry have told Kathimerini.

Turkey has doubled the number of its German visitors this summer compared to last year thanks to the 20 percent devaluation of the Turkish lira and the recovery of tourism in the neighboring country from the lows seen after the 2016 coup attempt and a number of terrorist attacks in recent years.

This has pulled the rug from under those Greek hoteliers who opted to stop receiving bookings from tour operators, hoping for sales at far higher prices as the season went along. The competitiveness of the Greek hotel product has come up against Turkey’s big comeback, although Greek tourism enterprise associations had warned it would happen as early as last year, before the state further raised the tax load on hotels.

As a result, Greek hoteliers are being forced to slash their rates in mid-July to fill up their empty rooms saved for higher profit margins, market experts have told Kathimerini, pointing to the false impression of an endless flow of rich tourists.

This article was first published by ekathimerini.com