Athens - The banks may have reopened – but is it safe to book a holiday to Greece?
UK travel association ABTA, which represents agents and tour operators all over the world, report that holiday bookings to Greece are up by two percent from last year.
And the Greek tourist board is due to announce that it is perfectly safe for tourists to visit.
ABTA’s Sean Tipton said: “We’re not finding a decrease of visitors to Greece at all – in fact, bookings are up by two percent since last year.”
Most holidaymakers head to the island resorts which are a world away from Athens, which has seen the bulk of the trouble.
Holiday company Thomas Cook reports no dip in bookings to Greece. A spokesperson said: “With Greece as popular as ever in 2015, Thomas Cook customers are continuing to enjoy their holidays and are experiencing business as usual across our wide range of hotels and resorts.
“Bookings have been strong since the beginning of the year, with less left to sell in the ‘latest’ period compared with the same period last year.”
One other reason for an increase in travel to Greece, is the devastating terrorist attack on holidaymakers in Sousse, Tunisia, on June 26, when Seifeddine Rezgui, 23, a jihadi terrorist killed 38 tourists, most of them British.
Around 300 000 tourists were due to travel to Tunisia, but in the wake of the attack, tour operators were forced to find alternative destinations for them, said Tipton. Greece was the first choice for thousands of holidaymakers.
But that’s not to say that tourists should adopt a laissez-faire attitude to travelling in Greece.
Daily Mail