Greece’s union of tourist enterprises said Tuesday that Greece is on course for a disappointing tourist season despite hosting the Olympic Games. The number of visitors was considerably down in the first six months and despite the Olympic Games, the drop could be as high as eight per cent.
Sluggish Olympic tickets sales have also raised alarm bells among Athens 2004 organizers.
Although some hotels in Athens have raised prices by seven to eight times, others on the Greek isles are now offering special deals. Hotel owners across the Aegean were dropping daily rates and offering two free nights for every seven nights to attract visitors.
Meanwhile, research conducted by pollsters MRB, Research International, and VPRC on behalf of ATHOC shows that more than half of Athenians plan to stay in Athens for the Games and nearly half intend to go to sporting venues, but most have yet to buy tickets.
The poll, conducted among 2,000 Greeks in the last week of June, shows that 60.5 per cent of Athenians intend to stay put and 40.7 per cent want to watch the events from up close.
But only 7.3 per cent of Greeks have already bought their tickets.
The poll also shows that 70.9 per cent of Greeks regard the possibility of a terrorist attack during the Games as small.
