Greece Expects 35% More UK Tourists in 2022

Visitors from the United Kingdom to Greece next year are expected to increase by 35 percent compared to 2021, Greek Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias recently told the Financial Times.

According to the minister, the rise will equal the record level of some 3.6 million UK tourists to Greece in 2019.

“Having met most of the tour operators and airline companies here in the UK… we are very, very optimistic about 2022,” said Kikilias who was in London last week promoting Greece during the WTM London expo.

The Financial Times’ refers to the deals Kikilias made with budget airline easyJet and leisure travel group Jet2. Both companies agreed to add capacity to their 2022 flight schedules to Greece.

According to the report, the agreements are “an indication of the travel industry’s faith in a strong bounceback in foreign travel next year”.

Kikilias told the Financial Times that the “sun, sea and sand” season would start earlier than usual, in March.

Meanwhile, holiday bookings for summer 2022 for travel to Greece are already on the rise, according to the minister. Kikilias recently reported a 30 percent increase in early bookings made in October for the summer of 2022, compared to those made the same month in 2018 for the summer of 2019.

The UK is Greece’s second-largest inbound market after Germany.