German tourists are choosing once again to vacation under the Greek sun despite the refugee crisis and tax hikes in Greece, Deutsche Welle noted on Monday, referring to a report of the German Press Agency (dpa).
The Germans prefer again the popular travel destinations of Crete, Rhodes and Corfu this year while bookings are slow for Samos and Kos, because of the refugees inflows from Syria and other areas of conflict.
The report stressed that, contrary to “dark predictions” administered by Greek tourism representatives that talk of a steep reduction in bookings to Greece this summer due to the refugee crisis and the hike in the value-added tax (VAT) rate at popular Greek tourist destinations, this does not seem to be verified in reality, at least as far as data provided by German tour operators is concerned.
This year’s booking figures to Greece are exceeding those of 2015, even though last year had also been a record year, a spokesperson of the German Travel Association (DRV) told dpa.
The German Association for Consumer Research GfK also reported that bookings to Greece (along with Spain and Portugal) in 2016 will rise compared with last year’s summer tourist season, mainly because of shrinking demand for terrorist-stricken Turkey and Egypt that ranked high on German travelers’ top destinations last year and Egypt.
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
