ATHENS, July 13 (Reuters) - Greece's deputy tourism minister said on Tuesday, July 13, he hopes a late surge in arrivals will boost revenues in the key tourism sector, hit by a slump in bookings this year as anti-austerity protests kept visitors away.
Officials have said revenues from tourism, making up a fifth of Greece’s 240 billion euro economy, were expected to drop by 10-15 percent as violent street protests and repeated strikes that ground flights have scared tourists away.
But Deputy Tourism Minister George Nikitiadis said the sector would fare better than expected in coming months.
"There will be an evident improvement … The number of visitors who make last-minute bookings is rapidly increasing," Nikitiadis told state ET3 TV.
"The trend is changing, cancellations are being replaced by bookings," he said, urging businessmen to be patient.
Greece is struggling with a huge debt crisis and how tourism fares is crucial for the economy as the government implements austerity in exchange for a 110 billion euro EU/IMF bailout.
Arrivals dropped 3.2 percent year on year in the six-month period to June according to Greek airports’ data. Some 27,000 nights were cancelled in Athens hotels in May, after three people died during an anti-austerity demonstration.
Visitors could not enter the Acropolis’ archaeological sites for some hours on Tuesday, due to a strike by workers who fear for their jobs and say they have not been paid lately.
Air traffic controllers will walk off the job on Thursday, grounding all but emergency flights between 0800 and 1200 GMT. Greece’s Aegean airlines and Olympic Air cancelled more than 40 flights and rescheduled many others.
Turnout in demonstrations is waning with the onset of high summer as Greeks flee to nearby islands, but analysts fear that protests will rekindle in September when people will start feeling austerity in their pockets.
