Every time the leadership of the Ministry of Tourism changes, the usual goal is reset: “To make Greece a 12-month destination”. Governments come and go, but the goal of promoting the country as a tourist destination throughout the year – and especially in the “soft” months of winter – is not fulfilled, with the coveted goal remaining… a midsummer night’s dream.
The above is also confirmed by the data of the Bank of Greece on the travel balance of payments, revenues and the number of visitors arriving in the country outside of the seven months of April – October, which are very far from the corresponding ones of the five months of November – March. Indicatively, the total receipts from tourism in January are close to 200 million euros per year, while July alone brings in revenues of 3-4 billion euros. In 2019 tourism numbers – both summer and winter – rose significantly, before experiencing the sharp decline of the pandemic biennium 2020-2021. However, from 2022 there is a recovery in tourism revenues, with last year now considered certain to surpass 2019.
“2023 was a record year for both arrivals and revenues, and according to the BoE data, receipts showed an increase of 15.7% to 20.5 billion euros, so we understand that this is a huge offer in the economy and in the local market” the Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni said (SKAI) on Thursday.
The sun-sea model
As it becomes clear, however, the impressive returns of tourism last year are due almost exclusively to the summer “sun – sea” model, with winter tourism generating little revenue by comparison.
This, of course, makes sense, as tourism moves globally at significantly faster speeds during the summer months, when most workers in the Western world take multi-day vacations and schools are closed. Our country’s comparative advantages, moreover, revolve around good weather and access to the sea, which makes Greece one of the top destinations worldwide during the summer season.
The president of the EOT, Angela Gerekou, tells “Vima”: “In recent years, a very serious and coordinated effort was made by the Ministry of Tourism, the EOT and all relevant agencies and we succeeded in repositioning the country from a top summer destination to a sustainable, quality destination which, beyond “Sun and Sea”, offers a multitude of thematic forms of tourism, in every corner, throughout the year”. However, despite efforts to extend the tourist season beyond the summer months, the emergence of Greece as a winter tourist destination is still an intractable puzzle.
What do the figures of TtE show?
The figures of the Central Bank show an increasing trend, but this progress is not enough, as the distance from the summer months is chaotic. In December 2023 total receipts from (foreign) tourism amounted to €344.2 million, marking an increase of 41.5% compared to 2022 and surpassing the previous record of €294.4 million in December 2019. number of travelers reached 765,500, marking a 32% increase from the same month of 2022 and a 10.6% increase compared to December 2019.
In January 2023, total receipts reached €224.2 million, while travelers reached more than 635,000. These numbers are slightly lower than the record highs of January 2020 (232.4 million euros, 660,000 tourists), but also from those of January 2019 (280.6 million euros, 790,000 tourists).
In comparison, tourism receipts in October 2023 amounted to 1.69 billion euros, while the number of visitors exceeded 3 million. In August 2023, receipts reached 4.35 billion euros and tourists were almost 6, 5 million.
From 2022, our country actively promotes its winter tourism in the international market, with the EOT-Visit Greece campaign called “Greece DOES have a Winter” and the “GREEKEND” campaign concerning the city break. However, arrivals and receipts figures persist: much more is needed.
“Tourism in the winter months is mainly internal, visitors from abroad are relatively few and come almost exclusively for the weekend. On weekdays, the traffic is much more limited”, emphasizes the general secretary of the Athens-Attica and Argosaronic Hotel Association (EXA-AA) Evgenios Vassilikos.
Price war in winter
“Indeed, the city break, i.e. the visit to the city that lasts two or three days, has increased and certain hotels in the center of Athens are busy, but there is a real price war in the winter. A room that is rented at 200 euros/night in the summer, drops to 50 euros in the winter,” describes Evgenios Vassilikos.
And the arrivals at “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport show that the city break does bring a certain mobility. Between November and December 2023, foreign passenger arrivals exceeded 778,000, recording an increase of 19.8% from the corresponding period of 2022 and 12.7% from 2019.
A similar picture at Thessaloniki’s “Macedonia” airport, where international passenger arrivals reached 273,373 in November and December 2023, marking a 14% increase from the corresponding period in 2022 (239,849), according to Fraport data. The same trends are not observed in the rest of the group’s regional airports, with some destinations also recording significant increases, such as Rhodes (11,783 passengers, an increase of 140.5% from 2022), and others seeing large decreases, such as Santorini (1,354 passengers, a decrease of 27.8%) and Kefalonia (34 passengers, a decrease of 85.5%).
Investments in infrastructure projects
Even if airport arrivals are moving at a positive rate, however, winter tourism seems to have reached a “ceiling”. “There is no organized tourist product for the winter,” says the general secretary of the Panhellenic Hotel Association (POX) Angelos Kallias.
“For example, we have 22 ski resorts in Greece and almost none of them have snow. Bulgaria has five major ski resorts that work well. In any case, the tourist has other options if he wants to go skiing, he will not come to Greece” he adds.
Angela Gerekou sets the goals for the present and the following winter tourism seasons: “For the winter of 2024, our goal is to further strengthen and strengthen winter tourism, mainly by highlighting the multiple authentic experiences that the country offers: gastronomy, culture, the insurmountable Greek hospitality and of course the sun and the Greek light even in the heart of winter.
These are also our competitive advantage compared to other featured winter destinations that have top infrastructure.
In this direction, part of the funds of the Recovery and Resilience Fund intended for Tourism Development will be invested in infrastructure projects for mountain refuges and ski resorts. These infrastructures are the necessary condition for a healthy, sustainable development of winter-mountain tourism”.
The need to enrich the tourist product is imperative
With more options and infrastructure on the mainland we will be able to attract tourists in the winter season, hoteliers argue
In order for Greece to be able to attract more tourists during the winter and bring a balance that will be able to rank it among the countries that are a tourist destination throughout the year, it is necessary to make significant moves in this direction. However, the goal should also be clear. What does it mean for a country to truly be a 12-month destination?
The example of Spain, a country with a similar climate to Greece, can provide a “compass”. Of course, the figures of Spain’s tourism are clearly greater than those of our country, due to a number of factors, such as the area, the language and the existence of cities – apart from the capital, Madrid – that are a pole of attraction for tourists from all over, such as Barcelona or Seville.
In 2023 Spain hosted a total of more than 85 million tourists, recording record arrivals. Of these, more than 24 million tourists visited Spain in the five months of the winter season (January, February, March, November, December). The percentage of winter season tourists on the whole corresponds to 28.3%.
More options
In 2023, Greece welcomed a total of 32.74 million tourists, setting a record. Of these, however, only 3.68 million visited our country in the months of the winter tourist season, with the percentage of the total amounting to 11.2%.
But how will we be able to increase this percentage in order to get it closer to that of Spain? According to the general secretary of POX, Angelos Kallias, an alternative approach is needed: “The “sun-sea” model is and will be the basis of our tourism, we cannot abolish it.
But we can enrich it by giving options to the mainland as well.
In this way, we will be able to entice the tourists who already come to Greece with types of tourism that can bring people outside of the summer.”
He believes that the tourist product should be developed in mountain destinations, not with expensive ski resorts, but with activities such as hiking, cycling or climbing.
In addition, it is vital to cultivate a different culture around tourism, he says. “Incentives should be given to domestic tourism in the winter so that non-summer holidays enter our culture. In other countries they have their school holidays in November and March.
In Greece this does not exist, schools are not closed so that we can leave the city for some days.
This is the only way the tourism product can be structured, and this is how we will see flights from abroad coming.”
Climate change
According to the analysis of Angelos Kallias, it is wrong to separate the tourism product into external and internal demand, i.e. into foreign and Greek tourists.
“If we want to be a country with a strong tourism product, we should have tourism businesses that work 12 months a year, not just three,” he emphasizes.
A hotel or restaurant that opens and closes several times during the year cannot invest in the services it provides and thus attract the tourist – whether he is Greek or foreign.
Finally, we should not forget the factor of climate change, which is expected to affect the tourism product of our country in the coming years. “We should build the infrastructure in order to have more options. To educate our children to have open horizons and to be able to do things, even if some activities disappear in the future” concludes Angelos Kallias.
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