Greek bookings fall following riots
Bookings to Greece have been hit by the recent riots in Athens over the country’s financial crisis.
According to the latest market report by Ascent, bookings for the 2010 season were down against the rest of the Eurozone for the week ending May 8 in the aftermath of some of the most violent clashes seen so far.
In the same period during both 2008 and 2009 Greece and the Eurozone have almost mirrored booking behaviour, but following some of the worst rioting on May 5, Greek bookings were down 31%.
"Interestingly, it is holidays to the Greek islands as opposed to Athens itself which has been responsible for driving the market down," said Ascent managing director Sarah Smalley
"Summer 2011 bookings so far seem to have been relatively unaffected, although it should be borne in mind that many holidays were launched earlier this year than in 2009.
“We will be monitoring the situation closely as regards consumer booking behaviour to see what develops over the coming weeks."
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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