Your best Greek vacation ever

One of the latest “best-kept secrets” in Greece is that the few (million) lucky and brave souls who managed to visit the country last year, right in the face of the pandemic, were rewarded by enjoying one of their top Greek vacations ever.

The complete absence of over-tourism, evident in the even cleaner than usual waters, the even more secluded than usual beaches, the even more impressive than usual monuments, and the even more hospitable than usual Greek people made sure of that.

But, now, this secret (like most of them) is eventually out:

According to ‘The Visitor Satisfaction and Hotel Performance’ survey by the Athens-Attica and Argosaronic Hoteliers Association, 43% of tourists who traveled to Athens last year said they chose it as a safe destination, a rate that climbs to 60% among the 18-25-year olds.

The visitors came primarily for holidays (at a rate of 75%) and felt safe (score 8+) on their trip.

They also unveiled that they would return (97%), visit more archaeological sites/museums (77%), and would unreservedly recommend (98%).

More specifically, foreign visitors in Athens said they were quite well informed about the Greek measures against Covid-19, giving it a mark of 7.6 out of 10. Both Greeks and foreign respondents said they felt very safe in their hotels (with a mark of 8.9 and 9.2 respectively).

A similar assessment for sites of interest, restaurants, and taxis fetched marks above 8 out of 10 in all cases. Only public transport fared worse among foreigners, with 6.9/10.

All in all, visitors from abroad last year marked the Greek measures with 7.3/10, saying that they did not affect their experience in Athens to a great extent.

The survey further found that the pandemic did not have an impact on spending in the Greek capital, which ranged around the same amount as in 2018 and 2019 on a per-visitor basis, at 115 euros per person.

Consequently, the overall satisfaction marks notched slightly higher at 8.2 out of 10, from 8.1 in 2019. (Hence our claim of one of the best Greek vacations ever)

Of course, despite the high satisfaction from tourists, the tourism demand in 2020 was exceptionally low. (Hence our claim for “best-kept secret”)

In total, the association considers last year as “catastrophic” for the hotel sector. Taking into account the hotels that did not operate, the capital’s occupancy rate came to just 19.7%. The loss of revenues in the Attica hotel market last year is calculated at €700 million.

So, this year, logic (a Greek word and notion founded by Aristotle, as the iconic Gus Portokalos of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” would hasten to point out) dictates that things will be even safer for tourists and their return shall feel more like a blessing to them, as well as their hosts.

"Fingers crossed" then for just a few more weeks to go…