* European tourism seen up 2-3 pct in 2013
* Greece bookings rebound, Alltours sees 30 pct rise
* Emerging markets to be main driver of global tourism
By Michelle Martin and Victoria Bryan
BERLIN, March 8 (Reuters) – Tourism in Greece is bouncing
back this year in an otherwise flat European market, held back
by the weak economic climate, travel industry executives said.
The desire for a beach holiday closer to home for
cost-conscious consumers in Europe is helping to revive tourism
demand in the country, battling recession and a debt crisis.
Doerte Nordbeck from market research group GfK showed in a
presentation at the ITB travel fair this week that bookings to
Greece from Britain, Germany and the Netherlands for this summer
were up 10 percent.
Tourism income for Greece, its chief money spinner, fell by
4.6 percent to 9.89 billion euros from January-November in 2012
according to the country’s central bank.
Arrivals from Germany, Greece’s biggest tourism market,
dropped by almost a fifth, partly on fears about a backlash on
German tourists caused by Berlin’s tough austerity demands on
Athens.
Alltours, Germany’s No. 4 tour operator, said bookings for
holidays in Greece were up 30 percent on the year by March 5,
boding well for the country where tourism accounts for around
one fifth of output and one in five jobs.
“The tourism industry in Greece has overcome the crisis of
the last two years and is now back on top form,” said Willi
Verhuven, chief executive of German tour operator Alltours.
Verhuven said the company was in particular seeing a surge
in bookings from repeat customers who had ditched Greece in
favour of other resorts.
Europe’s largest tour operator TUI Travel is also
seeing a comeback for Greece, with bookings at the group’s
German unit up 4 percent. Bookings from the UK are performing
strongly, a spokesman said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opened the ITB fair
this year, called on trade fair visitors to take holidays in
ailing euro zone states like Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy
to help to create jobs.
“I also wish that European countries which are famous for
tourism get good custom – I name Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy
– all countries in which growth is really necessary at the
moment and where we have to make an effort to finally get people
back into work,” she said.
EUROPE WEAKENS
Globally, the tourism industry – worth an estimated $1.15
trillion last year – is expected to grow by between 3 and 4
percent in 2013, driven by up to 6 percent higher visitor
numbers in emerging markets, according to latest estimates from
the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
It sees growth in Europe, the world’s No. 1 tourist
destination, slowing to 2 percent or holding steady at 3 percent
as the region’s debt and financial crisis rumbles on.
But Germany’s federal tourist association BTW forecasts
growth of just 1 to 2 percent this year due to the uncertain
economic environment.
“If the weak economy begins to seriously affect the
employment market and domestic demand then this will also impact
on the tourism industry,” group president Michael Frenzel said.
Germany’s national tourist board also sounded a note of
caution. “The European financial and debt crisis is still a long
way from being overcome yet,” said Klaus Laepple, president of
the tourist board.
Emerging markets like China and Russia will continue to be
the main driver of growth for international tourism, Rolf
Freitag, head of tourism consultancy IPK, said.
Asia Pacific is seen recording the biggest increase in
visitor numbers this year, with growth of between 5 and 6
percent, followed by Africa, where arrivals are expected to
increase by between 4 and 6 percent, UNWTO said.
Last year, emerging market countries attracted 4.1 percent
more tourists while their mature counterparts catered for 3.6
percent more travellers, according to UNTWO data.
(Editing by Jane Merriman)
