Greece in Top 5 Most Resilient Tourism Destinations for the Brits

Greece is among the top five most resilient destinations for the British seeking to get away for Easter, according to the latest report by travel intelligence provider ForwardKeys.

According to ForwardKeys air ticket data, Greece is in fourth spot in terms of Easter bookings in Europe up by 26 percent over pre-Covid 2019 and by 160 percent on 2021. Leading the ways is Cyprus, followed by Nigeria, Mexico, Greece, and Spain.

Citing new research, ForwardKeys said flight bookings to and from the UK soared following the government’s announcement that Covid-19 testing would no longer be required for fully vaccinated travelers entering the UK. One day later, total inbound and outbound flight bookings jumped to 84 percent of 2019 levels: outbound to 106 percent, and inbound to 47 percent.

A closer look at UK outbound tourism sees a strong demand for sun and sea destinations with Greece in the third position among the top five destinations for which bookings recovered most strongly in January. First on the list is Mexico, up by 72 percent up on 2019, followed by the Maldives up by 54 percent; Greece up by 22 percent; Cyprus, stronger by 20 percent; and the Barbados, up by 16 percent.

“When looking at bookings further afield, for Easter and summer holidays, the number of issued tickets are relatively stronger than they are for the upcoming half-term break. Compared to this time last year, when the UK was in a state of limited lockdown, bookings are, unsurprisingly, much healthier, 59 percent ahead for Easter and 82 percent ahead for summer,” said VP of Insights at ForwardKeys, Olivier Ponti.

“The positive booking trends we are seeing for tickets issued for the Easter break and the summer is a blatant sign of the recuperation of the travel and tourism sector as normal seasonal patterns as seen during the pre-pandemic return,” he said.

Ponti goes on to add that sea and sun destinations continue to dominate British travelers’ interests while city tourism or travel to airports associated with skiing is still down.

“However, if we see Continental European countries relaxing their travel restrictions in the way the UK has just done, I expect to see a flood of holiday bookings that could exceed pre-pandemic levels, thanks to a release of the huge pent-up demand.”