“The migrant crisis has not had a major impact on tourism, despite the way some of the British media has exaggerated the problem – describing an image that doesn’t exist,” said the minister Elena Kountoura. “Even on those islands most affected, tourists are undeterred. Kos welcomed just three per cent fewer arrivals during the first eight months of 2015, while in Lesbos, visitor numbers, remarkably, rose by two per cent.
“Visitors have actually embraced the refugees, and shown how responsible they are. Last September, huge numbers came to give out clothes and offer help.”
Kountoura expects Greece to welcome even more holidaymakers in 2016, thanks in part to unrest and fears over terrorism in North Africa and the Middle East. Tunisia is now off-limits to Britons, following the massacre of 38 tourists in Sousse and 22 in Tunis, Turkey has seen bombings and unrest, and Egypt’s problems appear perpetual – the grounding of flights to and from Sharm El Sheikh, following last week’s air crash in the Sinai, being just the latest.
A poll last month suggested that three in four British holidaymakers (and half of Telegraph Travel readers) are now actively avoiding Muslim countries.
She said: “It’s sad that Britons don’t feel secure, and many tour operators have told me at World Travel Market that they are very worried about 2016 after everything that has happened. But certainly all the traditional Mediterranean destinations – Greece, Italy, Spain – will benefit.”
Nevertheless, the country is looking for added incentives to keep UK holidaymakers coming. Major new resorts are planned and it is marketing some of Greece’s little-known destinations. This year’s Abta Travel Convention, for example, was hosted by a cluster of new five-star hotels on a strip of shoreline now billed as the “Costa Navarino”, and next summer Thomas Cook will include Thassos, in the northern Aegean, in its brochures for the first time.
So is the traditional Greek holiday – rustic villa, unspoiled beach, cat-filled taverna – under threat? No, says Kountoura. “We are very aware of what makes Greece such a great place to visit and we want to keep the experience authentic. We’ll go slowly, not like Spain,” she said, referencing the unchecked arrival of mass tourism there in the 1960s.
“There are more than 200 inhabited islands in Greece, most of which are practically unknown. That’s more than enough room to grow without spoiling the environment.”
