A popular holiday destination in Greece is racing to save its tourism season this year as hotel bookings have fallen by 20 per cent following recent seismic activity.
A holiday island in Greece faces a tourism nightmare as a recovery plan is activated. A popular holiday destination in Greece is racing to save its tourism season this year as hotel bookings have fallen by 20 per cent following recent seismic activity.
Tourism businesses in Santorini are in a race against time to recover lost ground, as the intense seismic activity in the region appears to be subsiding and the island is gradually return to cautious “normalcy“.
The Greek government has a lazer focus on two main challenges, which include ensuring the cruise season opens as scheduled by late March, and preventing April and May from being a lost season for hoteliers.
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The Minister of Tourism, who was at the ITB international tourism exhibition in Berlin, explained that all the necessary precautionary measures are being taken for the island’s residents and visitors.
Authorities in Greece say safety continues to remain a priority as schools and businesses reopen across the country’s Aegean islands. Speaking with Euronews at the ITB international tourism fair in Berlin, Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni said that the island will welcome visitors again this year, taking some specific safety-related measures.
“From the very first minute, we said that the foremost priority is the safety of both residents and visitors. So, we are opening up Santorini, and, of course, we are looking forward to a season that will operate as normally as possible,” Kefalogianni said.
“Of course, taking all precautionary measures, because, as I said before, safety matters to us more than anything else,” the Greek Minister for Tourism added.
Santorini is one of Greece’s most popular tourist destinations, alongside the likes of Kos, Crete, Corfu, Rhodes and more.
“We are used to dealing with extraordinary situations. But what is important is that we want to make sure that our residents and our visitors in Santorini will feel safe and that they will enjoy their time on the island,” said the tourism minister.
