Tourist flow from Russia to Crete in April decreased by 20% compared with last year. Such statistics, based on data from Airport of Heraklion, was provided by tour operators. Experts agreed that based on the results for one month you should not draw conclusions about an unsuccessful season on Crete.

Coral Travel tour operator strengthens its presence on the Greek island of Crete, opening a new charter flight program with arrival at the airport of Chania on the west of the island. Flights to Chania start from 01.06 and end on 05.10.2019. Coral Travel presents a number of exclusive hotels in this region, including the concept of Sun Family Club. 

According to tour operators, Greece remains a popular destination primarily for families with children. At Mouzenidis Travel, this audience accounts to 50% of the sales of the destination, at TUI Russia - this is 60% of sales. Together with family tourists, the resorts in Greece are also popular among couples aged 30 years and older (about 20-25% of sales).  

The CEO of the Greek carrier Ellinair, Thanos Paschalis, announced the conclusion of a partnership agreement between Ellinair and Aeroflot airlines. The announcement was made during a solemn event held in Athens on the occasion of the celebration of the five-year anniversary of  Ellinair airline. 

According to the tour operators, at the early sales stage, Greece showed steady growth: following the results of the leading players on the destination, it ranged from 10% to 100%. The popularity of the Greek product on the Russian travel market is promoted both by the relative stability of Euro rate, the increase of the number of hotels on an all-inclusive food system in the assortment of tour operators, and the loyalty of the Greek consulates, who willingly provide multivisas to citizens of the Russian Federation. 

“Based on the current volumes of early booking, this year promises positive dynamics of the Russian tourist traffic to Greece,” said the Minister of Tourism of Greece, Elena Kundura. She also reported on how the country is going to achieve ambitious goals. 

We are going to speak about the summer plans of all the TOs for summer 2019 in Greece.

“Thomas Cook buys Biblio-Globus tour operator, which is one of the five largest tour operators in Russia,” reports the Turkish edition TurizmGüncel, citing its sources in the industry. 

Roman Sarbash, the head of the VIP tourism department of incoming company Elion Club - a subsidiary of Mouzenidis Group holding company - told about this. According to him, over the past year the holding notes an increase in demand for luxury accommodation in Greece at the level of 8-10%. According to the data of Elion Club, Greece and Cyprus for the last few years have shown an increase in demand for deluxe hotels and luxury villas. This trend is explained by several factors. 

Mouzenidis Group holding and the hotel chain Cronwell Hotels & Resorts will launch in 2019 a chain of hotels under the co-brand Bomo Collection By Cronwell in Northern Greece. 

“The price of a weekly tour from Moscow to Belek (Turkey), for the beginning of June, in 5* hotels is at the level of 140 thousand Rubles (1,869 Euros) for two persons. It is a bit cheaper than a similar tour to Halkidiki (Greece). And equivalent to the cost of a tour to Rhodes.” said the representatives of the tourist retail. 

Tour operators have significantly adjusted their flight programs from Rostov-on-Don. So, in the summer season there will be no flights to Rhodes, Corfu, Bulgaria. Frequency of flights to Crete and Halkidiki is reduced by 2 times. At the same time, new destinations have appeared which will attract the tourists.  

Early booking of Greek resorts in 2019 shows a double-digit increase against the same period last year - tourists realize an obvious benefit and try to purchase tours in advance. According to tour operators, early booking of Greek destination undergoes ahead of last year’s schedule. The growth in sales of early booking tours is estimated by tour operators from 10% to 50%. 

By the results of 2018, Greece hosted a record number of foreign tourists. The Russian market showed a good result - it is on the 6-th position in the TOP-10 key source markets of Greece. 

Russian tourist flow to Greece remains stable. According to statistics from Greek airports, in total for 10 months of 2018 more than 824 thousand Russian arrivals were recorded in the country's air harbors, which generally correspond to the figures for the same period last year. According to the Russian representative office of the Greek National Tourist Organization (GNTO)

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a record number of Russians who visited Greece last year, and this year the number of tourists is expected to grow to one million. “Last year, a record number of 850,000 Russian tourists visited Greece. This is plus nine percent compared to the previous year”, Putin said at a press conference.

The Greek Tourism Expo, after four consecutive years of successful organization and rising course, broadens its professional goals and enhances its range of activities. It will address to more tourism markets, thematic and geographic, providing them the chance to showcase their products to the international tourism professionals.

Questions and themes that will be addressed by the PHILOXENIA conference, which will invite distinguished speakers from Greece and abroad to offer their knowledge and experience to the professionals of the tourist industry. The conference is co-organized by TIF-HELEXPO and the Hellenic Hoteliers Federation and will be held on November 10th at the conference center "N. GERMANOS " at the premises of HELEXPO in Thessaloniki.

My 4,5-years-old daughter looks to be extremely unlucky with getting Schengen visas from the Greek Consulate. She is less than 5, but has already 5 Greek Shengen visas and today we applied for the sixth one. The previous one was issued in May 2018 for 4 months regardless the fact that her both her parents have three- year multi-entry visas valid till October 2019. So this is challenge number one.

Tour operators named the most popular Greek destinations for September-October 2018. Crete, Rhodes and Corfu are in the TOP-3 of the most popular Greek destinations for upcoming autumn season. As Marina Makarkova, the Head of the department of public relations of Coral Travel tour operator said, in the autumn demand are the islands of Crete and Rhodes.

More companies from the media, PR and marketing sector have signed up to be part of WTM London’s exciting new WTM Agency Pavilion. The WTM Agency Pavilion is a first for WTM London – the leading global event for the travel industry. It’s a dedicated area right next to the WTM International Media Centre, where PR and marketing professionals can promote their services.

“Tour operators do not see a decline of demand for tour packages to Greece, despite the fact that accommodation facilities have risen in price in comparison with the last season”, - reported Irina Tyurina, the Press-secretary of the Russian Tourist Industry Union (RCT). "Tour operators say that Greece sells well every year and this year due to successful early booking program primarily expensive hotels were sold by attractive prices.

“The Greek authorities are planning to launch a cruise communication with the southern Russia this year”, - said Velanis Dimitrios the Adviser to the Greek Prime Minister. "The Greek authorities have long been considering the issue of opening cruise lines between Greece and the south of Russia, I believe that this line will be opened this year", - he stressed. According to V. Dimitrios, about 5 million cruise tourists visit Greece every year.

By the end of July the Greek island of Crete was visited by 12% fewer travelers from Russia than in the same month of the last year. This follows from the current statistics released by the airport of Heraklion. Since the beginning of the summer season negative dynamics have only intensified. Recall, in May Crete missed 3% of Russian tourists against the same period of 2017, in June - 5%.