UK visitors to spend €2.83 bln in Greece
An industry analysis in the UK revealed on Thursday that Greece could be set for a record cash boost of more than 2.83 billion euros from Brits eager to return to one of their favorite holiday destinations.
While international travel is still banned for the UK, if restrictions allow vaccinated holidaymakers to visit Greece, Britons could spend 10.5% more in the country than in the record year of 2019, when they spent €2.56 billion, data show.
The prediction is based on an analysis by travel health experts Practio, who processed 10 years of historic Office for National Statistics data, looking at every single trip made out of Britain by UK citizens and where they were heading. Using the in-depth analysis, researchers have been able to forecast the monumental impact of Greece’s decision to remove its quarantine requirement for vaccinated travelers from countries including the UK.
The data predicted the amount British tourists were due to spend in Greece in 2021 as more than £2.4 billion, but with holidays mostly canceled in 2020, that number could be significantly higher if the country presses ahead with plans to allow Britons in ahead of other countries.
Forecasts predicted 3.4 million visits to the country in 2021 by Brits, down from 3.5 million in 2019, but that could be eclipsed after not accounting for the pandemic and canceled travel in 2020. The data show British visitors are expected to spend an average of €840 per trip, given also the concentrated demand for traveling and the increase in savings reported.
Commenting on the research, Dr Jonas Nilsen, managing director and co-founder of Practio, said: “We wanted to pull this exhaustive research together to understand UK travel trends over the past 10 years, but also to give us an idea of what this means for travel in the future. Travel was mostly out of the question in 2020 and many of us are hoping for its return in 2021. By predicting future trends, we can better equip travelers and businesses that thrive off tourism by helping them to prepare for what’s to come and how they can make the most of Brits’ travel habits.”
“It’s also been great to see some of the emerging trends and how travel is changing; we’re seeing the go-to destinations start to change with more money being spent in countries further afield, which should be a good sign for the future of the travel industry beyond the pandemic,” he said.
