The Effects of Corona on Tourism: Visitors to Greece Down by 85%
The corona virus crisis has impacted the economies of many countries around the world, with perhaps the tourism sector feeling perhaps the most adverse effects.
COVID19
With official data from the summer slowly being published, the damage COVID19 has done to the tourism sector becomes abundantly clear.
Even though many experts have expected this to happen – and those with first-hand travel experience this summer will probably have experienced on the ground – the numbers still come as a shock.
Greece
This week, the Bank of Greece published its provisional data of tourist numbers to the country in July. Normally, this is a prime holiday month with popular islands such as Zakynthos, Mykonos or Crete being full of foreign holidaymakers.
According to the initial report, the number of foreign arrivals at Greek airports dropped by 83.2%, while the number of those arriving at the overland borders dropped by 89.9%. On average, tourist numbers were down 85.4% in July.
Data
The breakdown of the numbers is quite telling as well, as the amount of tourists from non-EU countries dropped by 92.7% in July compared to the same month in 2019.
With external EU borders being shut for prime foreign tourist markets such as the US, China and Japan, this perhaps doesn’t come much as a surprise at all, as only a handful of foreign travellers with dual nationality or those heading on essential (business) trips were able to circumvent the travel measures.
European travellers
Yet also the number of visitors to Greece from other EU countries decreased sharply, as this number was down by 80.4%.
With many people choosing a staycation at home or domestic holiday above a trip to Greece, and travellers from certain EU countries being required to get a PCR test before travelling to Greece, this drop can also easily be explained.
As I already wrote myself in July based on my own on-the-ground experiences in Greece that month: “Most hotel owners I spoke to estimated that in July occupancy is around 10 to 15 percent of a normal July month. Although they said that in August this was up to 25%, the numbers are still shockingly low compared to normal times.”
It seems that this observation was pretty much spot-on indeed.
Spain
It is however not only Greece which faced a sharp decline in tourist numbers. According to a Turespana report, visitor numbers to Spain were down 80% in July as well.
In other popular destinations such as Italy and France, similar numbers are being mentioned.
Travel experience
On the plus side, many tourists who did travel this summer appreciated the rather empty destinations. If you always wanted to visit normally overcrowded destinations such as Santorini, Prague or Venice, this year is certainly the time to travel if you can!
Travelling through Greece, Poland and Portugal this summer, I surely appreciated the lack of tourist masses, even though I fully realise how hard this must be to those who make a living out of tourism and sympathise with all those who are affected by COVID-19.
If you can travel and feel secure enough doing so, I therefore really recommend you to support the industry and plan an autumn trip somewhere. I will for sure be doing the same!
Never miss out on news and flight deals
If you want to stay up to date on the latest travel news make sure to regularly check the Paliparan website. We also recommend you to regularly check the flight deals section to ensure you will not miss out on great travel deals or special sales.
Or subscribe to our Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages to receive instant updates whenever a new article or flight deal has been published!
