International bookings for flights to Greece are beginning to rebound
Here's an encouraging sign that Greece may be temporarily out of the quagmire: bookings for international flights to Greece have rebounded in the last week, having fallen in the first two weeks of July.
Data by ForwardKeys published today showed that, while the number of bookings was 44 per cent lower than last year in the first two weeks of this month, in the third week it was 35 per cent down. Not, admittedly, a miraculous recovery – but an encouraging sign nonetheless.
The company said bookings first began to decline "dramatically" on 29 June, when the Greek government imposed capital controls, alongside an unofficial bank holiday.
Although Greece made just under €7bn of payments to the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank yesterday, it's not out of the woods yet. The country's government must now negotiate a bailout loan worth €86bn, which will cover it for three years. After that, its problems begin again.
Still, other figures have suggested the tourism sector wasn't as badly hit as many expected: research published yesterday by UK travel agent association ABTA showed bookings of holidays to Greece are up two per cent from last year. Solidarity tourism, perhaps?