Greek tourism is “looking” for a strong finish in two sectors

Greek tourism is "looking" for a strong finish that will confirm a very good year taking into account the covid pandemic. After the very good August that in the whole country seems to have reached capacity at the level of 80%, what Greek tourism is now looking for to lock the goal of "50%" (tourism revenue 2021, as a percentage of tourism revenue in 2019 ) is for the "tail" of the tourist season to go well in the summer destinations and to record a satisfactory interest for Athens in the two months of September and October, two months that are historically "high season" for the capital.

These are the two areas in which the country's tourism industry is focusing its attention in the near future in order to have a definitively good season for this year, always under the condition that we will not have an outbreak of the pan-European pandemic in Greece as well.

A tourist wears a towel with the design of a U.S. $100 bill at Santa Maria beach on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, September 11, 2019. Picture taken on September 11, 2019. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini

Who is staying open until November

For Athens as a destination, hoteliers can not do much as the vast majority of bookings are via the Internet and almost last minute. For the summer tourist destinations, however, what the hotel sector does is with offers to "fill the gaps" of the next days in an effort to maintain the highest possible occupancy until the end of September and October. Crete, Rhodes, Kos are destinations that remain "open" until almost November.

This year, as estimated by market players, September and October may be "strong" months, given the vaccinations in a number of EU countries, such as the Netherlands and opens the way for more citizens to travel. It is...