Int’l terrorism hurts tourism in Greece too
Fears in the international travel community of more terrorist attacks against European or other destinations has led to a stagnation in Greek tourism.
The head of the Association of Hellenic Tourism Enterprises, Andreas Andreadis, says that the recent attacks in Egypt and France and the climate of insecurity under the threat of further terrorist activity have frozen interest in new bookings even for destinations such as Greece, where there appears to be no immediate risk of international terrorism.
The United States Department of State has issued a travel warning telling American citizens traveling abroad to stay alert when in public spaces or using public transport.
Andreadis stresses that “it is wrong to say Greece will fill up with tourists because other countries have terrorism problems.” As an example he cites the fact that when serious incidents such as the Russian passenger aircraft crash in Egypt or the attacks in Paris took place there was a freeze in 2016 bookings to Greece.
Still, there are also other factors, such as the downing of a Russian fighter jet over the Turkish-Syrian border, that may change the travel choices of Russian tourists.
