Greece is short of charters, but hotels give discounts up to 40%

Tour operators talk about a consistently positive trend in demand for Greece, stressing that an increase in sales is unlikely at the moment. The main problem has not been resolved - the lack of charter transportation.

Demand, which did not show satisfactory results in early July, began to level out gradually.

“At the beginning of July, demand was lower than expected, but since the middle of the month we have seen a significant increase in sales and requests for tours to Greece”, - Russian Express operator assessed the dynamics.

From July 24, the number of regular flights has increased to seven per week from Russia to the Greek Heraklion and Thessaloniki. There are daily regular flights from Moscow to Athens, from Moscow to Rhodes and Corfu (4 flights per week on each route), to Araxos, Zakynthos. There are also regional flights to Thessaloniki.

From Moscow to Athens and back, according to ticket aggregators, tickets cost a little more than 403 Euros, for a flight from Moscow to Rhodes and back you need to pay about 345 Euros. Tickets on the Moscow - Corfu - Moscow route cost about 333 Euros.

Before the pandemic, the flight program to Greece was many times larger and flights were loaded well. Now the volumes are much less and there is no shortage of tickets.

“The dynamics of booking is good, the average sales’ depth is about 4 weeks. More active growth of demand is constrained by low-budget offers for holiday in Turkey and poor awareness of travelers about the entering in Greece. Tourists actively request holidays in Greece for September and October period.  For July and August many hotels have given good special offers - discounts for accommodation reach 40%,” Tez Tour said.