Greece refused to forecast a record number of tourists in 2015

Financial problems, complicated relationship of Athens with international creditors and the general instability in the country make Greece less attractive for German tourists, therefore the Association of Greek tourism companies (SETE) refused to forecast a record number of tourists in the country in 2015, Bloomberg agency said.

The beginning of the year was quite optimistic: the number of Greek hotel bookings from Germany in January jumped by 12%, but in April and early May weakened to rise till 0.7%.

"We see a slowdown in some markets, especially in Germany, the head of SETE Andreas Andreadis said.

However, the number of bookings from the UK and the US increased, whose currencies grew against the euro since the beginning of the year.

Earlier SETE expected that in 2015, Greece will be visited by 25 million foreign tourists, compared with 24.3 million in the last year (+ 21% to 2013), which was a new record. However Andreas Andreadis said that this forecast cannot come true.

Sales of tours to Greece in the Russian market are also lower than a year before. Experts estimate the market reduction by 30-40%. However, the decline in demand for tours abroad in Russia has affected all destinations, because of the economic crisis and the depreciation of the ruble against foreign currencies.