WTM: UK Tour Operators Ramp Up Capacity for Greece in 2022

World Travel Market London 2021, ExCeL London – Greece Press Conference.

UK tour operators are adding flights and holidays across Greece in 2022 and 2023 to cater for recovering levels of demand from British holidaymakers.

The news was announced on the first day of WTM London on November 1 during a press conference held by the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) to showcase some of the key developments in Greece.

As announced earlier by Greek Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias and then at the press conference, Jet2.com and its sister brand Jet2CityBreaks will operate flights and city breaks to Athens for the first time – with operations starting in April 2022 from three of the company’s UK bases: Birmingham, Manchester and Stansted airports.

The official tourism season for Greece is expected to launch early in 2022, between mid-March and April 1.

Moreover, Jet2.com and its tour operator Jet2holidays will offer 200 weekly flights to Greek destinations in 2023.

Greek Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias.

The UK’s largest travel company, TUI, has launched “workation” travel packages at selected destinations in Greece to cater for demand from digital nomads.

Independent operators are also adding new destinations for 2022 – Sunvil has added the island of Lesvos and Planet Holidays has introduced the islands of Skyros and Koufonisia.

Furthermore, UK tour operators are starting to offer train travel to and within Greece, as a more sustainable alternative to flights.

Sunvil offers train travel from St Pancras to some of the Ionian Islands via the Alps and Milan; Tailor Made Rail offers trips via ancient cities in Italy or through the Balkans; and Great Rail Journeys offers itineraries within Greece from Athens to the heights of Olympia.

New hotels, cultural developments

The GNTO also highlighted a host of new hotels that have recently opened in Greece, including the Lighthouse Hotel in central Athens; Asterion Suites and Spa in western Crete; and Angsana Corfu, the first Banyan Tree resort in Europe.

Cultural developments showcased by the GNTO include a new archaeological museum due to open in Chania, Crete, and the reopening earlier this year of the National Gallery in Athens – one of Greece’s largest art museums, which has undergone a 59-million-euro expansion and refurbishment.

The GNTO also announced that Greece has nominated three areas – Soufli, Western Samos and Alonissos – for the World Tourism Organisation’s (UNWTO) “Best Tourism Villages” initiative.

The project, which will select the villages at the end of November, will recognise small, rural communities that are harnessing the power of tourism to provide opportunities to safeguard communities by promoting and preserving local traditions, cultural heritage and sustainable development.

The Greek Travel Pages (GTP) is an official media partner of WTM London.