Tourism sector observes slip in revenues
Tourism businesses have seen revenues drop by around 4 percent so far this year, despite the number of incoming visitors remaining unchanged from last year’s levels, according to the Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises (SETE). Figures released by SETE earlier this week showed that tourists driving into Greece from Bulgaria and Romania have helped offset a small drop in visitors flying into the country in the January to August period. Andreas Andreadis, SETE’s vice president, said yesterday a decline in holidays by Greeks this season, along with an increase in the price of tourism products, namely hotel services, have weighed on the sector. «These factors have lead to a drop of around 3 to 4 percent. This will appear on balance sheets next year,» he said. A global economic slowdown along with a strong euro have hurt Greece’s tourism industry, which accounts for about 20 percent of gross domestic product. About 8.5 million visitors are estimated to have entered Greece in the first eight months of the year via the country’s 13 main airports. A recent study presented by research group StatBank showed that more than four in 10 Greek hotels in 2007 reported losses. The hotel sector remains highly concentrated, with 52 percent of the industry’s 2.6-billion-euro annual turnover handled by the largest 100 firms.
