“Greece is currently the top selling destination at the moment – 30% of our total bookings are for Greece,” announced Alan French, CEO of global travel group Thomas Cook, during a press conference in Athens today.

“Bookings for some popular Greek islands, including Rhodes, are already seven times more than last year’s numbers,” he added.

During a meeting with the president of the Greek National Tourism Organization, Angela Gerekou, Mr French acknowledged the mistakes of the past, agreeing that they should not be repeated, while also discussing the new financial model of the travel company, ensuring the monetary security of its customers. Thomas Cook now operates as an exclusively online travel business under the international Fosun Tourism Group. In addition, they discussed the promotion of year-round tourism in Greece as well as modern practices of sustainability.

Thomas Cook has managed to overcome the challenges of the pandemic and achieve more than 25,000 bookings in the UK over the past year, while developing its already strong customer base with more than 100,000 travelers.

“Greece plays a huge role in world tourism”

“We are very optimistic about the prospects of Greek tourism in 2022. Greece plays a huge role in world tourism and especially for Thomas Cook travelers, it is one of the most popular destinations. Greece is a fantastic country that offers a wide range of holidays to suit all travelers throughout the year, so we expect the country’s popularity to continue,” said Alan French. “It is our strategic decision to expand our activities in the region with new collaborations with companies in the Greek tourism industry,” he added.

According to Mr French, the new flexible model of the company enables Thomas Cook to offer a huge variety of holidays in Greece for customers in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, where he recently started business. “We want to take full advantage of the many airlines in Greece and the types of accommodation to offer our customers options and flexibility,” he noted.

Rhodes and Crete at the top of the list

The company’s strategy for Greece is already bearing fruit. Rhodes is the most popular Greek island, followed by Crete, Kos, Corfu and Santorini, while for couples, Rhodes is the most popular summer holiday destination overall and Santorini is the third most popular. For all these destinations, there is already a large increase in bookings compared to 2021. Specifically, bookings for Rhodes are seven times more than last year, for Kos it is 5.2 times, for Crete it is 4.6, for Santorini it is 3.9 times higher and for Corfu it is 3.6 times higher.

As for the impact of the war in Ukraine, the head of Thomas Cook noted that bookings are higher now than they were six weeks ago and customers seem to be less worried about the war. In addition, he pointed out that customers are booking even closer to departure than last year. “52% of our bookings are for the next 10 weeks,” he said.

At the same time, Mr. French stressed that the customers are mainly directed to 4 and 5 star hotels as well as to all-inclusive. According to the company’s data for Greece, 45% of travelers prefer Greek 5-star hotels, while 58% prefer all-inclusive hotel packages.

At the same time, the average travel cost for travelers’ holidays in Greece is estimated at 2,600 euros, an increase of 5% compared to last year. “The average cost in Greece is 30% higher than in Spain, which reflects the high level of all-inclusive and 5-star hotels in Greece,” said Alan French.

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