ATHENS: They came, they spent and they will return. British tourists have given their vote of confidence to Greece this year, while the first indications for 2016 point to further growth in tourism from the UK, ahead of next week’s meeting of British travel agents in Greece.
In the year up to the end of July, British visitors spent more than 1 billion euros in this country, which constitutes an annual increase of 37.2 percent. The number of tourism arrivals from Britain soared by 29.3 percent to exceed 1.3 million, which also means that per capita spending by Britons in Greece has risen this year.
Comparing these figures with British visitors at rival destinations, one see that there were just 2.9 percent more Britons in Spain (at 10.8 million), and 16.3 percent more in Cyprus (714,000), while there was a 0.9 percent drop in Turkey, to 1.8 million holidaymakers.
Signs indicate that the number of UK visitors to Greece will grow again in 2016.
Meanwhile, the annual conference of the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) will be held on October 12 to 14 at Costa Navarino, in the southwestern Peloponnese. This follows talks between ABTA and the Regional Authority of the Peloponnese which have been taking place since 2013.
