Athens (dpa) - Revenues from tourism shrank by 35.3 per cent in Greece in February, according to data released on Wednesday by the Bank of Greece.

The southern Mediterranean country has been hoping that tourism, which accounts for 15 per cent of GDP and employs a fifth of the countrys four-million workforce, will help boost the debt-written economy.

The bank said tourism revenue fell 44.7 per cent year-on-year for January and February, compared to the same period last year.

This is attributed to a 61 per cent drop in pre-bookings from Germany and a 42.6 per cent fall in pre-bookings from Britain.

Strikes and anti-austerity protests have strained relations with fellow eurozone member Germany, which many in Greece blame for unpopular budget cuts in exchange for bailout loans. Greek tourism officials say this and negative publicity have put off tourists.

Greeces economy is in a fifth year of recession and the Bank of Greece forsees a 5-per-cent contraction in 2012 as the government adopts austerity measures in exchange for financial aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The unemployment rate was expected to increase to 19 per cent this year, up from 17.7 per cent last year. dpa cp jln Author: Christine Pirovolakis

http://en.europeonline-magazine.eu/greece-tourism-revenues-shrink-by-more-than-35-per-cent_205887.html

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Doesn't look good, tourism is the only industry griks have, if it vanishes they only have olive oil and feta cheese left.

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Next time there is no next time

The stats you are showing concern months during which Greece had riots etc. Tourists don't exactly like that kind of stuff.

However, we are expecting a significant increase in tourists this year (we also had a big increase last year), especially during summer.

The most suprising fact is that Greece is becoming the top holiday destination for Russians.

In 2010, 450.000 Russians visited Greece
Last year, it was about 700.000
For this year the number is estimated to be at least 1.000.000


"WITH anti-German feelings among Greeks running at a post-war high, fewer German tourists are likely to visit the Aegean islands this summer. Many local hoteliers would almost certainly go bust were it not for the increasing number of Russians who are coming to Greece, thanks to more relaxed visa regulations. About 1m Russian holidaymakers are expected to visit Greece this year, double the number in 2010.

Many Russians are spending lavishly and buying second homes in the Halkidiki district in northern Greece, a favourite beach destination. Vladimir Putin, Russias president-elect, is a familiar visitor to Mount Athos, a nearby enclave of Orthodox monks. He may even attend Orthodox Easter festivities there on April 15th.

Where tourists and politicians lead, money may follow. Greeces cash-strapped government is rushing to privatise various public utilities, including DEPA, the state gas group. Gazprom, Russias state-backed giant, has expressed an interest in adding DEPA to its growing portfolio of international interests. DEPA already buys much of its gas from Gazprom, and one of its subsidiaries has signed up to join South Stream, a Russian project to pipe gas to central Europe via the Black Sea. "

http://www.economist.com/node/21552240

°°Have fun with your cheap russians which are regarded as tourist of lowest quality. No joke some resorts get negative ratings for having too much russians.

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Obviously we are not going to have only Russians. At least 16 million tourists visit Greece every year. Russians will be about 7%. So your point is basically invalid.

I just mentioned their increase to justify what I said.

Also:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/30/uk-greece-tourism-idUSLNE82T00H20120330

This is a very bad news for Greece since we all know the biggest revenue is the Tourism ...

Riots and the escalating situation in the country creates a worse atmosphere for the tourism in my opinion . Tourists simply dont like that .

However hotel prices might go down tremendously just to pull attraction . then definitely Greeks would manage to at least float above the water .
(since prices are low there wont be huge profit)

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"Have fun with your cheap russians which are regarded as tourist of lowest quality. No joke some resorts get negative ratings for having too much russians. "

Maybe you've got this opinion cause the "lowest quality" Russians and Ukrainians prefer to visit Turkey. I know people from both countries which prefer to go to Turkey cause it's cheaper and easier to get there while there are obstacles to come to Greece due to visa matters and many of them earn just 400 euros the most per month. But those who come to Greece are usually big spenders. I'd been working in a tavern and Russians were maybe the best clients of all. One thing you should know about them. 1st clothes are really expensive in Russia and Ukraine, so wherever they go they will not just try to spend their time on beaches, hotels etc, but will spend much money on shopping too. 2nd they are people who live for the present and don't care how much money do they spend. They just want to have fun.

bottom line is, Tourism may have fallen a bit in Greece but this is:

a) low end Tourism, low spenders, thugs etc... these people all go to Turkey now as it is cheap there

b) high spenders, high class people still visit Greece (Remaining 55%) as they have the big dollars to splash out

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As it stands, Greece doesn't get "high class" tourists. We don't have the infrastructure in place.....how many world class hotels are there in Athens? How many marinas? How many strikes? How much bad publicity?

Greece has the potential to be the world's premier tourist destination.....but not under the current conditions.

low end Tourism, low spenders, thugs etc... these people all go to Turkey now as it is cheap there
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No. You didn't get it. Greece is cheaper now since everything is on fire sale. There are two reasons.

1. Germans and British are not going there, because they hate Greeks after finding out about the true character of them.
2. They are also afraid of Greeks' hate against the Europeans especially Germans. So much for your another lie, hospitable, peaceful people of eastern Mediterranean.

im sure the numbers will be alot higher when the situation in greece is normalized and stable. But i dont think the numbers will be anywhere near to what it was before.

SLOWELY THE EUROPEANS WILL COME TO REALIZE WHAT BARBARIC THIEVES GREEKS ARE AND WHAT US POOR TURKS HAD TO PUT UP WITH ALL THESE YEARS!





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GREEK KILLING MACHINES AT THERE VERY BEST!

btw JackD

your signature looks like a cheap photoshop fake...

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Tourism is rising in Greece ,not falling. There has been a decline in visitors in the first 2 months due to the instability we had. Overall, for the WHOLE year, there are much more bookings than there used to in the last years.


I just gave you 2 links from the most reputable economic websites and yet I see some people here choosing to ignore them and actually believe we have any problems with tourism. According to SETE's 2011 report, January and February account for less than 4% of the total tourist arrivals for our country. Wait for the summer and you will see if our tourism is falling or rising.

divine justice...

I get it Grix have no industry because they hate working but tourism??? You do nothing and even that is too hard for Grx to accomplish...

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Constant riots and strikes scare away tourists. There is nothing unexpected here.

Turkey should fund Greek leftists, they are doing a great job.

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Your future isn't too rosy at the moment with your fascist dictator at the helm and the in fighting between secularist-islamist-kurdish factions.

Turks in glass houses should learn not to throw stones.

The riots in central Athens pale into insignificance to the melee which happens in turkish cities and tourist resorts on a frequent basis.

Just look at one of the many instances of terrorism in turkey here:

http://www.eturbonews.com/25535/1-killed-2-injured-turkish-tourist-resort-explosion

You see for every one thing you throw at us it comes back to you sixfold.

It's called karma and it will find you eventually.

For tourism quality is important rather then quantity, the original article was regarding revenues and people reverted towards number of tourists visiting Greece.

It is a known fact that the yield you get from tourism depends on the investments that you make in the field. Greece will not be able to do this as effectively was doing before so they will have to lower prices, level of prices has direct connection with the quality of tourists that you get as well overall revenues.

So yes Greece may have more tourists in the coming period but revenues from tourism will be comparatively lower, and it will be a situation that will last for the next 5 years. Tourism is rather investment demanding field and you need to have a very good banking system to support it, until situation with financial sector is as it is this condition will continue.

Revenues declined because so did the international tourist arrivals. In January and especially February we had huge riots because there were tensions before the memorandum was voted by our parliament.

There is a positive relation between tourist arrivals and revenue. In the end of this year you will see we will have greater revenue than last year.

"Constant riots and strikes scare away tourists. There is nothing unexpected here.

Turkey should fund Greek leftists, they are doing a great job."

@Temren
This shows only what kind of idiot you are

May 25 (Reuters) - The number of foreign visitors to Turkey fell 5.33 percent year-on-year in April to 2.17 million people, Tourism Ministry data showed on Friday, after falling 9.72 percent the previous month.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/25/turkey-tourism-idUSI7E8G400P20120525




Turkish planing of indigenous projects



April/21/2012
Turkey is not like China. Turkey is, just like Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal.
www.hurriyetdailynews.com

Hehehe look at the joke comment of CretenPig. There Tourisme went down with 45% and here he is posting how Turkish Tourisme felt with 5%, Thats one hell of a Comeback.

Greeks Losers for ever

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''Nothing is true, Everything is permitted'' Hasan ibn Sabbah

"bottom line is, Tourism may have fallen a bit in Greece but this is:

a) low end Tourism, low spenders, thugs etc... these people all go to Turkey now as it is cheap there

b) high spenders, high class people still visit Greece (Remaining 55%) as they have the big dollars to splash out"


Not really.


Turkey:

Tourism Receipts: $24,784,000,000
Number of Arrivals: 27,000,000

Expenditure per Tourist: $917 (2010)


Greece:

Tourism Receipts: $12,579,000,000
Number of Arrivals: 15,007,000

Expenditure per Tourist: $838 (2010)

"Not really.


Turkey:

Tourism Receipts: $24,784,000,000
Number of Arrivals: 27,000,000

Expenditure per Tourist: $917 (2010)


Greece:

Tourism Receipts: $12,579,000,000
Number of Arrivals: 15,007,000

Expenditure per Tourist: $838 (2010) "

LOL! Romulus, you've just been bitchslapped and then slamdunked on the one go by Toros. Will you now get off the drugs?

in case you havent noticed we are 10 mil tourist low and you are comparing your country with a 7 times smaller country. besides that the expenditures per tourist is almost the same in half the mount of the tourists, wich means that our tourists like to spend twice as much as yours


wow... i knew turks were dumbasses but not that dumb!!

^^What an idiot comment! What does it have to with a country's population? What a tourist do is the same in every country. According to that theory United States is still bad although ranked first in the world. Also mind you, tourism is not %50 of Turkey's GDP like Greece.

Years ago i remember the Greek Turkish football match, Turkey won 1-4. According to Greeks, its a Greek victory since Turkey is 7 times more population than Greece.

Greek logic is comfortable till Turkey is 7 times better than Greece in every subject. We hadnt heard the tourism excuse before, now we did. Very funny.

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i'm talking about land mass and infastructure wich plays a matter on the capacity of the industry in a 7 times smaller country nitwit... yet we score half of the incoming tourists , as it appears.its you that brought up the comment by comparing the two countries... so you got autopwnd just relax and shut it


so the reality of it is turks compare their dicks with 10 year olds and score on donkeys not on women . it always been that way by you jealous mother fvckers , we got nothing good to get from turkey, you gypsies trying to steal everything from us for ages. dont worry good times is coming for you.you'll get the dick once and for all

Despite the crisis greece has not lowered its prices and is possibly one of the most expensive destinations in Europe.

@odysASS

Did u learn math from a donkey?

Turkey 30 million tourists
revenue 25bn $


Grease 15 million tourists
revenue 12 bn $


How does that make every tourist in grease spend twice as much?

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I'm not like everybody else