Numbers of German tourists decline
A recession at home, combined with Greek hotels’ loss of competitiveness, due to their being overburdened by taxation, and the recovery of destinations such as Egypt and Turkey, has led to a drop in the number of German tourists this year.
Reservations by Germans on Crete were down 6 percent in July compared to the same month last year, while those in Rhodes dropped 5 percent.
The island of Kos was the exception, showing a 21 percent increase in bookings, to a large extent due to new hotels available.
Iraklio was the Germans’ fourth biggest destination for July behind Antalya, Turkey, where bookings went up 1 percent, Palma de Majorca (a 10 percent drop) and Hurghada, Egypt (up 11 percent).
Rhodes and Kos were eighth and ninth, respectively.
In 2018, 4.38 million Germans visited Greece, up 18.2 percent from 2017, spending a total of 2.962 billion euros, up 16 percent.
