Greek Summer Travelers to Tighten their Belts in 2016

Greeks are set to spend less on their holidays this year, according to a recent study released by PayPal and market research company Gfk.

One in two Greek travelers, or 52 percent, said they do not plan to spend more than 500 euros on their vacation this year with 80 percent saying they would make all payments in cash. Nine percent of respondents said they were willing to dish out more than 500 euros but not over 1,000 euros for their holidays, while another nine percent said they would dig deeper into their pockets spending more than 1,000 euros for their vacation.

The majority of respondents said they wish to vacation for a period of two weeks in summer — 44 percent of the Poles, 37 percent of the Czechs, 24 percent of the Greeks and 24 percent of the Hungarians.

It seems however that Greeks will this year by vacationing less with 22 percent saying they would be away for less than one week.

According to the same study, Hungarian vacationers are the thriftiest among others in Central and Eastern Europe, with 51 percent aiming to spend 250 euros or less on their holidays.

In the meantime, 39 percent of the Greeks use the Internet to plan their travels and 95 percent spend their time online while on holiday, while 55 percent say Wi-Fi availability is a main factor in their choice of accommodation facility. A total of 28 percent said they have used PayPal at least once for their holiday transactions.

With regard to payment methods, 79 percent of Greeks prefer to pay in cash, 70 percent of Hungarians, 68 percent of Polish travelers and 63 percent of  Czech vacationers with online payment methods like PayPal becoming all the more popular.