European Poll Reveals: Greece Tourism Industry Could Suffer
Berlin, Germany 07/08/2015: GoEuro.com – Throughout the summer months Greece is one of Europe’s highest-ranking tourist destinations, with travelers from across the continent visiting the popular holiday location. With tourism as Greece’s number one source of income we recognise the importance of understanding European perceptions of the current economic and political situation, and whether it would affect potential tourist’s plans to visit. We polled 22,500* Europeans to better understand the effect this may have on visitor numbers.
Countries less affected by economic crisis in recent years are more deterred by Greece’s current situation
The perception of Greece in countries such as the UK, France, Germany or the Netherlands seemed to be more negative due to the current situation, whilst countries which were more disturbed by the Europe-wide economic crisis – which began in 2008 – appeared to have less of a negative view of Greece as a tourist destination. 72% of Germans who traveled to Greece in the last five years revealed that the financial/political situation affected their perception of the country in a negative way. Spaniards on the other hand were less likely to view the situation so negatively, with up to 93% stating that it did not affect their perception of Greece.
Main Tourist markets less likely to visit Greece
The negative perception has also affected the willingness of several important tourist markets to visit Greece. Holiday-makers from Germany, France and the UK who have already visited in the past five years are now less likely to revisit due to the current situation. Nevertheless other European nationalities revealed the situation wouldn’t affect plans to visit and in the case of visitors from Spain it could even motivate revisiting.
Furthermore a similar pattern of negative perception is seen in those travelers who haven’t visited Greece recently, with more emphasis from Spaniards, Italians and Portuguese who seemed more attracted to the country due to the current situation.
*2500 in each country polled, all Internet users who had travelled in the past 24 months outside their country of residence.