I was just wondering if anyone else was feeling the effects of the eurozone crisis. Down here in Greece we're struggling, there's been so much bad press and uncertainty about the country that it appears a LOT of people are being turned away. If there's anyone on here from Croatia or Turkey or any other high profile destinations in the area that may have seen an upswing as a result of people avoiding Greece.
People here are getting really worried and I know that a lot of backpackers arent turned off by general economic conditions as other travellers, so I'm sure theyre still out there but it would appear that fewer and fewer are visiting Greece. Have any of you heard about people avoiding Greece or switching to other destinations because of all the bad news?
Cheers
gordo
12 years
I haven't heard anyone say that they were actively avoiding Greece or mention that they should avoid it due to the economy. No one has pitched this idea to me yet, but if people think an economy is unstable, they may assume that they can get really cheap deals there and be enticed to go. If people do mention skipping Greece it usually has more to do with inconvenient transportation strikes than economic crisis.
12 years
Well that's what I would've figured, though prices for backpackers arent really changing (theres no point in dropping your prices if there's still nobody around to buy). Certainly package tourism is down, despite the drop in prices by overseas operators, so I'm starting to think it is the crisis itself. There have been rumours of bank runs etc and I know my sister was advised to get all her euros in the UK because there was no guarantee there'd be any in Greece.
Speaking to a few guests who've come in from other parts of Greece they said the hostels were reasonably quiet but they obviously dont have a frame of reference or any actual numbers. I can completely understand, if I was hearing about bank runs and the potential collapse of the government and I didnt have my heart set on Greece, I'd head somewhere else too.
Anyway, if anyone has heard anything, I'd be interested to hear about it.
12 years
I don't know anything 1st hand about Greece, but there certainly is a lot of negative publicity in the UK regarding the Greek economy, and in the past year there have been plenty of news stories with pictures of violent demonstrations. Whilst these are very unlikely to affect tourists, I think a lot of people would be put off by the news stories, especially package tourists. The problem is that virtually all the news people see about Greece is negative, and I think that will impact very badly on tourism. I personally don't think that Greece has a reputation as being really cheap for the independent traveler, though I'm sure there are cheap package deals.
12 years
I don't think it's the crisis in greece. We are at 50% of occupation (we are in catania in Sicily) at the moment and all our collegues in the south italy are the same or worst. We hope its for the olimpic games and the euro championship that the tourist routes are somewhere else. Otherwise its quite worrying...how about the other parts of Europe?
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