China Perspective

Greece beckons Chinese tourists

By Bao Daozu (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-04 07:45

BEIJING - Chinese tourists are becoming new favorites in Greece as the country recovers from the debt crisis.

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"We are focusing on further boosting our market share here, believing in the potential of the Chinese market," said Eleni Mitraki, director of the Greek National Tourism Organization's Beijing office. "Our efforts were awarded with increasing numbers of visitors in 2010."

Tourism is one of the most important pillars of the Greek economy. Packed with historical heritage, Mediterranean coastline and beaches, Greece attracts more than 16 million tourists a year, contributing 15 percent to its gross domestic product.

However, after strikes and riots caused by the debt crisis that engulfed the country in 2010, arrivals in Greece fell 1.3 percent in the first seven months compared with the same period in 2009, according to the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises. However, this has not prevented hordes of Chinese vacationers flocking there.

"We saw a small decrease in our customers at the beginning of the year in our Greece-bound travel business mostly due to the social turbulence there," said Zhang Wei, general manager of the outbound travel department of China International Travel Service.

"But now the negative impact on our business is fading away little by little as the crisis is easing," she added.

Yao Yao, marketing project manager of China Comfort Travel, told China Daily that the company's tour service package to Greece and other European countries for the National Day holidays sold out by the end of August.

"Outbound travel to Greece is not 'super hot' but is more classical, mature and stable with a steady growth of Chinese tourists," he said.

Greece is well known as a top honeymoon destination in China, but it can also offer visitors a rich culture and magnificent landscapes.

"We used to believe our Greece-bound tours were only attractive to young Chinese couples who wanted to enjoy a piece of natural scenery in the eastern Mediterranean islands. However, it turns out that middle-aged and elderly people also go there for the splendid historical relics of the ancient Hellenic civilization," said Zhang.

She said regular tours consist of seeing the remains of the Hellenic civilization that lasted thousands of years and the coastline scenery of islands such as Santorini and Mykonos.

Unlike traveling to several European countries in quick succession, available data indicates that Chinese tourists in Greece tend to stay longer for in-depth tours.

"I have to say, during Chinese national holidays, sometimes all you see in the streets of cities and islands in Greece are Chinese tourists," said Mitraki. "And we are very pleased with this fact."

China Daily