This, This was stated by the President of the Panhellenic Federation of Hoteliers Grigoris Tassios., will “hold” the business financially for the next 40 days preceding the three days of Clean Monday. The weather, however, will not be an ally unless temperatures drop and at the same time some snow falls to keep the ski resorts open so people have an incentive to run to the mountains next weekend.

As far as package travel is concerned, the picture is also excellent, as all indications are that the market is recovering. In particular, according to the President of HATTA, the Association of Travel and Travel Agencies of Greece, Lissandros Tsilidis, the average mobility for the whole year has reached 80% of 2019, which is a very good result considering the problems it caused and caused by the pandemic.

Good weather favored travel to work over the holidays

“The weather during the holidays was very favorable and favored travel. Cities that have done particularly well have had theme parks like Drama, Trikala, etc. where people have started to go before the holidays.” says the president of POX, talking to the Athens agency.

“Five days of Christmas and New Year worked all destinations such as the mountainous Peloponnese, Arachova, Pelion, the rights of Ioannina (both the city and the highlands), as well as urban centers such as Thessaloniki, Athens, Kavala and Alexandroupolis which were mostly filled during the three days of Christmas, New Years and apparently Fire.

That is, there is a differentiation between the mountain mass and urban centers.

The average occupancy of approximately 1,400 businesses on the 15th day of the holidays was 80%,” notes Mr. Tassios. As he points out, Balkan tourists are also backmore in Thessaloniki and less in Kavala and Alexandroupoli.

He, of course, notes that from now on, the stake will be on the weather, because there are 40 days left until Clean Monday, and since January 10 there has been nothing. “In other words, we have a good holiday two weeks and a bad next 40 days. Any profitability of the business will be exhausted in the next period. In other words, we are, simply put, “equal boat, equal sails,” emphasized the president of POX.

In Epirus, which seems to have managed to win the 12-month tourism bet as it is a place that offers many options, both the mountains and the cities were full of people, without changing the scene for three days of lights, as the deputy governor for tourism of the Epirus region points out Stratos John.

“Maybe we didn’t have snow, but that didn’t stop people from visiting both mountainous areas and cities, especially Ioannina. We have invested a lot in visibility and extroversion, now we have more foreign tourists visiting than in the past, and 2023 is expected to be better than all the previous ones.”

Regarding the new year and how the flow of tourists is expected to take shape in 2023, Mr. Tassios noted that there are two dates that will determine it: the first is January 31, when the 1st round of early bookings closes, and the second on March 31, when the second and longest cycle closes.

People are very interested in traveling

“People were very interested in traveling, especially after the previous two years. At Christmas, unlike Easter, cities dominate as destinations, because people want to have fun, walk, shop, etc., so we saw a large flow of tourists to Athens, Thessaloniki and Crete,” said Lysander, President of HATTA. Tsilidis, adding that theme parks have given additional benefits to destinations.

As for Greece, the destinations preferred and favored by visitors and which have gone very well are Ioannina, Zagorochoria, Tsoumerka, Nymfaio, Pelion, Pertouli, Elati, Lake Plastira, Trikala, Karditsa, Karpenissi, Parnassus, Arachova, Galaxidi, Peloponnese and especially Kalavryta, Nafplion and Kalamata. .

Particular preference was given to Crete and especially urban centers.

“Foreign guests in Thessaloniki were mainly from the Balkans, and in Athens – from America, Europe and Israel,” added Mr. Tsilidis.