Greece comes in third, after Italy and Spain, as a Mediterranean “luxury destination” for European tourists, according to a relevant study carried out by ΙΡΚ International.
Other countries considered as “upscale Med” destinations are the south of France, Portugal, Turkey, Cyprus, Croatia, Malta, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Montenegro and Albania. “Luxury holidays” are, for the purposes of the study, considered as vacations with spending exceeding 750 euros per overnight stay per person, and for a period of between one and three days. Otherwise, 500 euros per person per overnight stay exceeding four days.
The average cost per trip per day rose to 4,498 euros and 833 euros respectively. These tourists tend to be couples aged between 35 and 44, who are comfortably off. Their length of stay is usually from four to seven nights, and they choose to travel to Italy (35.6 pct) and Spain (31.0 pct).
According to findings in the study, some 4.4 tourists enjoyed “luxury holidays” in the Mediterranean region during 2016, reaching 23.8 million overnight stays and with nearly 20 billion euros in turnover. Of the 4.4 million, two million were European citizens.
Tourists electing Greece for high-end holidays in 2016 reached 402,000, nevertheless corresponding to only a meager 1.4 percent of the total tourism flow to the country, given that the figure also includes cruises. Some 2.2 million overnight stays in the country (1.1 percent of the total) were in the high-end category, and with 1.8 billion euros in turnover for “luxury holidays” (13.7 percent of the total).
The principal European markets from which Greece attracted luxury travelers in 2016 were Germany (39,000 or 22 pct of European travel, 22 pct of overnight stays and 21 pct of the spending), France (37,000, or 21 pct of European travel, 17 pct of overnight stays and 18 pct of the spending) and the United Kingdom (26,000, 15 pct of European travel, 15 pct of overnight stays and 16 pct of the spending).
The top markets for luxury travelers for Greece outside of Europe were the United States (88,000, 39 pct of European travel, 40 pct of overnight stays and 40 pct of spending), China (54,000, 24 pct of non-European travel, 23 pct of overnight stays and 25 pct of spending) and Japan (8 pct of non-European travel, 7 pct of overnight stays and 7 pct of the spending).
A shortage of infrastructure and the right product, along with weaknesses in promotion, are the main problems identified in the survey on the basis of data from world travel monitor IPK International.
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