Halkidiki: Number of Turkish tourists more than triples – huge drop in Greek visitors

The data shows that the number of Turkish tourists choosing to spend their holidays in Halkidiki has doubled, according to the head of the Association of Tourist Accommodation Entrepreneurs (O Aristotle), Triantafyllos Papaioannou.

The Turkish market has shown rapid growth of 5% overall in the last two years.

Referring to this year’s traffic, Mr. Papaioannou told APE-MPE that the special characteristics of this season include the tripling of the Turkish market, compared to 5% of the total in the previous two years.

According to him, the dynamics shown by Romanian visitors since last year, who constantly “vote” for our country, representing 65% of all tourists, have continued.

Among the negatives of this season is the absence of Greek visitors, who this year are recording a number less than in 2023 by up to 70%, in addition to a 20% decrease in the percentage of German and English visitors.

In other words, for the third year this year Italians choose Halkidiki and the mentioned coastal areas east of Thessaloniki for their holidays, and Serbs retain 30% of the total as a proportion of arrivals to our region, followed by Bulgarians, with three-day “escapes”.

Then, Mr. Papaioannou points out that 2019 was one of the best years for entrepreneurs in the field of rooms and apartments for rent, “but since then, every year we are doing better, except of course the years 2020-2021 when the coronavirus pandemic put us on “ice”.

So, while 2022 was described as a benchmark year by owners of rental rooms and apartments, “2023 has finally come to remind us that things can go better.”

Last year’s season ended with a 40% to 50% increase in sales compared to 2019. “Now, the reference year for us is 2023,” he said, expressing his hope that this season will be a surprise.

Prices in most of the 2,600 accommodations in Halkidiki (2,100 in Sithonia and Kassandra), with the number of beds now exceeding 200,000, “are at last year’s levels, when there was an increase of up to 15%.”

Great fullness

Speaking of a special summer this year, Mr. Papaioannou estimates that in 2024 it will either “close” at last year’s levels or – in the worst case – with an estimated decline of around 10%.

However, the average occupancy is around 85%, while in the areas of Vrasna, Nea Vrasna, Abrovalta and Stavros in Thessaloniki Prefecture “not a pin drops”.

“Until May, advance bookings had reached 85% of the occupancy for the entire season in Halkidiki and East Thessaloniki, and we businessmen were surprised to find that demand from last-minute visitors in many cases did not cover this remaining 15%,” he explains, adding that “last-minute bookings this year have registered a 90% decrease compared to last year, but also what has traditionally happened in previous years.”