GREECE: season 2019 already started – let’s book 2020!

It’s no news that Greece is still on tourists bucket list as a destination for their holidays. The number of tourists visiting is still in a high rise. In 2017, statistics show that 27.19 million people visited Greece and they also show that in 2018 there was an increase in 10.8%, with a total of 30.12 million visitors! That’s 3 million visitors more in one year!

Out of these 30.12 million tourists, a major part was from the EU. However, 8.73 million tourists came from new markets outside of the EU, such as Russia, USA, Asia… In total, 1.1 million came from the United States and this was an increase of 26.9% compared to 2017.

According to a study conducted by YacthSys, early booking trends for Greece are slightly dropping for 2019. This is happening in many countries in the Mediterranean. Statistics show that Americans book their holidays months in advance, and therefore this statistic is very important. Even though 36% of bookings for sailing in Greece are made ‘early’, this number could be higher if expanding to markets who prefer to book early.

Flight connections are also being introduced. This year Chicago will be directly connected with Athens! The East coast of the USA is just one flight away. New York to Athens is also direct via Emirates, as well as direct connections to Philadelphia via American Airlines. Getting to Athens will no longer be a barrier.

USA clients are wealthy, especially those on the East Coast in Maryland. Maryland is the ‘wealthiest’ state in the USA per habitant. A study on the competitiveness of the recreational boating sector shows that the USA clients are the second country of origin, based on the amount of money they are willing to spend sailing.

With all these facts together, it is time that Greek charter companies expand to the USA.

Let’s be direct – you are buying new boats with new funds, Greece is still a very attractive holiday destination, you are increasing your fleet, have many more things to offer, but are you aware that you need more people to sell all this too. USA clients should be on your radar – they book early, love luxurious holidays and big boats, never ask for discounts and have a direct flight to get to Greece.