The tourist sector welcomes August with optimism as most destinations have reached 90% capacity in reservations.
In reply to the question of whether the fire in Rhodes could endanger this year's tourism, the president of the Hellenic Association of Travel & Tourist Agencies, Lysandros Tsilidis, pointed out to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency that the summer season and especially August will not face a problem in tourist flows to Greece.
"These days, all the destinations will perform well, especially in August," he added: "Time will help to overcome any issues that may have arisen."
Tsilidis noted that given the peak tourist season in all competing destinations in Greece, it would be tough for those who have planned a vacation in Greece to change their trip to somewhere else. Next week, however, the Greek travel agencies have an extraordinary meeting with the European Travel Agents and Tour Operators' Associations to be briefed on the prevailing conditions.
Regarding reports on how tourist agencies handled the situation in Rhodes, he underlined that travel agencies are struggling daily to meet the tourists' needs; they have kept all customers.
Focusing on the island destinations that lead in tourist flows, Crete will be the leading force in the Greek tourism sector for one more year.
And this year, as the president of the Hoteliers' Union of Crete, Manolis Tsakalakis, pointed out to AMNA, it will reach approximately 6 million arrivals, 10% up compared to last year.
According to MTC GROUP surveys, Mykonos and Santorini remain consistently high in popularity worldwide.
Meanwhile, the islands with over 90% occupancy in August are Lipsi, Samos and Lesvos, Ios, Skopelos, Astypalaia, Andros, Kalymnos, Sifnos, Karpathos, Paros, and Naxos.
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