Following the recent announcement that Greece recorded its highest daily tally in COVID-19 cases since the start of the outbreak in the country;

Ralph Hollister, Analyst, Travel & Tourism at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view on the situation:

“The UK Government has already demonstrated how quickly it will take a country off its quarantine exemption list with the abandonment of the Spanish travel corridor in July. While UK travelers quickly turned their attention to Greece to avoid a 14-day quarantine, many of these late bookings will be at risk of cancellation if Greece’s infection rates keep surging. If Greece is struck off the list, UK traveler confidence may be affected beyond the short-term and operators offering flights between the two nations will undoubtedly suffer further losses.

“Many UK travelers with hopes on Greece could be having trips cancelled for a second time, which may deplete any remaining motivation to travel internationally for the remainder of the year, and potentially in the coming years if no vaccine is found to curb the spread of COVID-19. According to GlobalData’s most recent COVID-19 recovery survey, 37% of UK travelers stated they will reduce their frequency of international travel in the ‘new normal’, which potentially shows the impact that mass cancellations have had on traveler confidence.

“According to GlobalData, the UK is Greece’s second most valuable source market in terms of visitation, with 3.6 million trips taken in 2019. Plus, the UK was in the top 30 nations globally for average overseas tourism expenditure per resident, spending an average of US$1,476 per international trip. This point illustrates that UK tourism acts as a key economic contributor for Greece – and even more so for tourism-dependent islands such as Crete or Santorini, which places a greater reliance on high-value visitors. A second wave of cancellations due to the FCO advising against all but essential travel will be detrimental for small businesses on these islands as international visitation should now be entering its peak.”