The hotel is fully booked, the historical sites are overcrowded, the owners are smiling, and the sounds of tourists make Athens vibrant. Since Greece welcomed a record 33 million visitors in 2019, the country's tourism industry has never been better.
Lift travel restrictions The peak tourist season arrives early
The Guardian reported that Vassilis Stathokostopoulos, the owner of a 24-hour tavern, said that if this continues, we will have a very good year. People want to have fun here, so they are willing to spend money.
Tourism, which accounts for 25 percent of Greece's economy and provides 1/4 of jobs, is surprising even to optimists. In recent years, Athens has experienced more turmoil than other EU cities, with protests and riots even synonymous in addition to the financial crisis, coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which last year's Greek tourism industry, while better than expected, was still well below pre-pandemic income.
But this year, the recovery has finally arrived. For the first time since 2019, a cruise ship has sailed into a Greek port. Industry officials say ticket bookings are also increasing, suggesting that tourists want to leave the pandemic behind.
Andreas Andreadis, former CEO of Sani/Ikos, the company that runs the luxury resort, said, "Everything looks positive. "Demand fell somewhat in the first few weeks of the war in Ukraine, but at the end of March it started to pick up again and it is now in very good condition.
Due to the relative success of the epidemic prevention and control, Greece opened its first direct flight with the United States on March 7. As a result, bookings increased significantly during Easter, and the tourist season arrived early. The Greek government previously announced that travel restrictions will be lifted from May 1 and that EU digital certificates will no longer be required to enter Greece.
Tourism Minister Vasilis Kikilias also said that not only flights, but also 765 cruise ships will line up to enter ports across Greece this summer, and the popular islands have attracted a large number of tourists.
The "troubles" of recovery There is a severe shortage of labor in the service sector
The arrival of the tourist season has also raised a problem in the service sector – labour shortages.
Chryssa Vertakis, the owner of a three-star hotel in Crete, said that while the hotel was almost fully booked, her guests had to find alternative places to eat because her hotel had no chefs or handymen.
Cooks, waiters, cleaners and other related occupations all rely heavily on overseas labor, but many have not returned to Greece due to the impact of the lockdown. Andreas Andreadis, honorary president of the Hellenic Association of Tourism Enterprises, warned that Greece currently lacks more than 50,000 service workers, which has greatly reduced the quality of tourism services.
He also said the easing of restrictions has fueled hope for the tourism industry to return to 2019, but problems will arise if there are not enough staff to host the 33 million visitors.