Greek national income from tourism could rise by an appraised 1-2 billion euros annually if local hotels managed to raise their online presence to the same level as the Mediterranean average, a National Bank of Greece study said.
According to the study, a stronger online presence would attract more independent tourists and significantly boost turnover for small and medium-sized Greek hotels. It would also expand revenues per bed as well as profit margins and minimize problems with overdue payments and other lower seasonality side effects.
Aggressive strategy
Deeper penetration of online booking to match the Mediterranean average of 25% or the European average of 28% instead of 11% for Greece in 2014 in combination with weakening dependence on travel agencies, would boost tourist revenues by an calculated 0.9 billion euros every year.
This growth would not depend on additional beds but only an alteration of the business model, by selling directly to the final consumer. If, however, this change was combined with a more aggressive strategy that simultaneously enhanced capacity, Greece could attract as many as 2.1 million tourists more and upturn revenues by 1.8 billion euros.
