The rosy prospects of Greek tourism in the run up to this summer is occupying much of the German press at the moment, as evidenced by the recent RND news network article “Greek tourism is a big winner of the pandemic.”

“Four out of five Germans have their minds set on a holiday this year,” concluded a recent tourism study by the Research Association for Holidays and Travel (FUR). The leading German tour operator TUI is also optimistic about tourist numbers this year: “We expect a strong summer in 2022,” said the head of TUI, Fritz Jussen.

“On January 30, about 3.5 million TUI customers made bookings for the summer, which corresponds to about 72% of the same period in 2019,” he continued.

The percentage of those who are making a reservation for the first time exceeds 100% compared to the figures from 2019. Greece is among the top preferences for Germans. In 2020, tourists overwhelmingly preferred Greece, something that was totally unexpected. Air travel reached 86% in July-August compared to 2019 levels, while the corresponding figure for the rest Europe was only 40%.

“The prospects for 2022 are rosy, and the trend will continue,” said TUI spokesman Aage Dinhaupt to the RND news network, who estimates that this year will see 3 million tourists travel to Greece, while before the crisis, in 2019, the figure was 2.8 million. Crete, Rhodes, Corfu and Kos are very popular destinations. On these islands prices have already risen, and finding available accommodation is becoming increasingly difficult. The TUI representative also stated that “this year will be more difficult for those who want to find a last minute deal at a lower price.”

Source: Deutche Welle

This article was previously published in Greek at moneyreview.gr.