Tourism may absorb blow

It appears that the containment of the damage inflicted on Greek tourism by the political and economic developments in the last 20 days was possible after all, according to reports by international tour operators regarding the rest of the season in Greece.

Rene Herzog, a leading official at DER Touristik, Germany’s second-biggest tour operator, stated on Thursday that despite all the negative publicity about Greece, bookings are showing an annual increase of 21 percent this year.

This appears to be an exception, though, as a survey by German tourism publisher FVW showed that only one in five travel agents in Germany expect a rise in overall bookings in the coming months, attributing that to developments in Tunisia and Greece. Most expect no change.

There has also been an improvement in tourism bookings from Britain, thanks to major discounts that tour operators and travel agents are offering for Greece. Olympic Holidays was offering Greek packages at a 70 percent discount in recent days.