Government spokesperson Giannis Oikonomou on Wednesday referred to the good prospects for this year’s tourist season. On a post on Twitter, he wrote:
“The first direct flight from USA arrived yesterday, earlier than any other year, at Athens International Airport, while the plan is for nine direct flights from USA to Greece every day. The Greek tourism, with a plan, gets a vote of confidence this year too.”
Νωρίτερα από κάθε άλλη χρονιά, αφίχθηκε χθες στον Διεθνή Αερολιμένα Αθηνών η πρώτη απευθείας πτήση από τις ΗΠΑ, ενώ ο προγραμματισμός ορίζει 9 απευθείας πτήσεις καθημερινά από τις ΗΠΑ για την Ελλάδα.#Με_σχέδιο ο ελληνικός τουρισμός κερδίζει και φέτος ψήφο εμπιστοσύνης.@Vkikilias
— Γιάννης Οικονόμου (@joikonomou) March 9, 2022
Τhe cheerful tweet was referring to the arrival of some 160 tourists from the USA.
Meanwhile, Greek tourism professionals are not so optimistic as the government spokesman.
According to kathimerini, major tour operators and Greek tourism professionals who are in contact with the main markets supplying visitors to Greece report a freeze in bookings over the last couple of weeks due to the war in Ukraine.
Consumer concern is not so much about the war itself, as it is about people’s reluctance to spend money on holidays as their disposable incomes shrink dramatically due to rising inflation and energy costs.
“We are back where we were two years ago, when the pandemic reached Italy and it became clear that tourism could not remain unaffected,” a top Greek hotel entrepreneur told Kathimerini on Wednesday.
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