German Travelers Embrace Greece in 2017

Greece was the “winner” among the picks of German holidaymakers last year, according to the annual Tourism Analysis survey of the BAT Foundation for Future Studies and featured recently by German FVW Media Group.

According to the survey showed that although Greece ranked sixth most preferred destination of German travelers in 2017, the country increased its share to 3.1 percent from 2.8 percent in the previous year, while Spain, Italy and Austria weakened and Turkey suffered another big drop.

Spain remained the favorite destination for German tourists but saw its share drop slightly from 14.1 percent in 2016 to 13.7 percent last year. Italy still ranked second with 7.7 percent of all German holiday trips but this, too, was slightly lower than in 2016. Austria’s share fell to 3.9 percent but moved up into third place as Turkey’s share of the German market dropped from 4.4 percent in 2016 to 3.6 percent last year, leaving it in fourth place.

Study leader Professor Ulrich Reinhardt said that Greece is “last year’s winner”, leaving it in sixth place behind Croatia.

Other European destinations with higher shares last year included Scandinavia, France and the Benelux countries.

German bookings to Greece grow in January 2018

Meanwhile, according to the latest Traveltainment online booking engine data for January 2018, it seems that German holidaymakers are turning away from expensive Spain and opting for vacations in Turkey, Egypt and Greece.

According to Traveltainment’s figures for January 2018, bookings of package holidays with Antalya as the destination airport effectively doubled last month as it presented a 99 percent surge compared to 2017 and Egypt performed well with a very high 61 percent rise in bookings to Hurghada.

Regarding Greece, Traveltainment data showed that bookings to Greece continued to grow well last month on top of the previous year’s record season. In January, German bookings increased by 9 percent to Heraklion in Crete, a strong 25 percent increase for Kos and a slight 2 percent rise for Rhodes.

The Traveltainment figures cover package holiday and last-minute bookings through its market-leading travel agency and OTA reservation systems.