Greece ranked fourth in top holiday destinations for Russians in May, according to a survey among Russia’s leading travel agency networks presented by TourDom.
Booking data regard from holiday reservations departing on 28-29 April and record strong double-digit increases for Greece compared to May 2017.
More specifically, across the RossTour network sales grew by 28% higher, with Greece occupying the 4th place while on Burning Vouchers the country ranked 5th.
The top-3 destinations include Turkey, Tunisia and Cyprus.
This May, Russians’ vacations are facilitated after 29 April since they have four days of holiday, right before two working days and a weekend.
Travelers seem to take advantage of this opportunity, and May records a 62% boom for all destinations compared to May 2017.
Turkey’s share of sales is 60%, showing an impressive 137% rise compared to the same month last year.
Consequently, Greece’s goal for the 2018 tourism season, according to the relevant ministry at least, is to attract more than one million holiday-makers from Russia.
Greek Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura cited the target, in fact, in statements during the MITT exhibition in Moscow last week.
Albeit ambitious, so far tour operators have announced that more flights are being scheduled from Russia to Greece.
Ruble-euro parity and availability of high-end hotel rooms
Beyond an intense interest in a Greek holiday by the average Russian vacationer, a significant factor in the number of arrivals from Russia to the east Mediterranean country will depend on the ruble-euro parity, as well as the availability of high-end hotel rooms.
According to Russia’s Turstat statistics service, nearly 856,000 holiday-makers visited Greece in 2017, up 10 percent from the previous year. Additionally, many Russian citizens acquire visa for entry into all EU countries, which means that the number visiting Greece may be higher.
However, a lower figure is provided by the Bank of Greece (BoG), which recorded 588.700 arrivals by Russian tourists in 2017, down from roughly 595,500 in 2016, a decrease of 1.1 percent.
On a positive note, the coming season will see an increase in the number of flights from Moscow and St. Petersburg towards Corfu, Crete, Kos and Rhodes, while new routes will be inaugurated connecting Moscow with Hania and Athens.
The strong interest in Greece was confirmed at Moscow’s International Travel and Tourism Exhibition (MITT) 2018 where Greece was the honored country last week.
Furthermore, Mouzendis Group airline Ellinair announced the increase of seats by 20-25 percent for its fleet of 10 planes servicing Greece-Russia routes.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
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