Google: What the online searches for Greek tourism show

Google: What the online searches for Greek tourism show

Online travel searches, with online travel service providers expanding faster than online travel agencies, are increasingly used by modern travelers as the first point of contact with the accommodation, constantly increasing the importance of the internet for tourism businesses worldwide.

Therefore, the map of the modern tourist environment can be traced back to miniature online searches which, for our country, show a tendency for mobile searches, activities, last minute vacations, city breaks and luxury vacations.

Google's data on Greece shows that Greece is high on travelers' preferences, especially those of inbound tourism.

Specifically, according to data provided by the online giant Analytical Consultant, Google, responsible for Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta, Mr. Apostolos Paradellis, speaking at the Forum for Travel Agencies: "New Markets and Online Travel" on the sidelines of the Athens International Tourism Expo (December 6-8), our country occupies the 14th place in the world of online destination searches.

It is noted that of the total travel searches in 2018, ie 67 billion, 5% took place at Google, of which 75 million were for Greece.As Mr Paradellis told the Forum, co-ordinated by the founder and CEO of City Contact, Mr. Yiannis Giannakakis, 76% of all searches for Greece relate to incoming tourism searches for our country, which is the highest rate compared to competing countries with the exception of Cyprus.

In addition, Greece in 2018 was the sixth country in the world in terms of inbound tourism searches, after Spain, the US, Italy, France and the United Kingdom.

Google data shows that the increase in inbound tourism searches for Greece is due to the use of mobile phones, which rose + 13% in 2019 compared to 2018. On the other hand, searches for PCs and tablets were down.

Searches exclusively for the destination have a 57% share, the hotel 16%, the airline 12% and the holiday package 9%. Italians and Spaniards appear to be more interested than any other visitor to Greece for the destination itself (63% and 61%), followed by Germans (55%) and British and French (41% for each nationality).

Analyzing the searches for our country, there is an upward trend for activities, city breaks and last minute trips, even though they are still at low levels. In particular, there are 6.25 million inbound tourism searches related to destination activities, which are up 10% year-over-year. However, activities in Greece do not seem to be sufficiently exploited. Of the inbound tourism activity searches, Greece has a share of only 1% versus 4% of the global average. The US and France have the largest share (of 7% each).

As for last-minute trips, it is noted that such searches are carried out by countries close to Greece (Italy, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Poland, etc.).

In city breaks in Greece, searches are up 13% year-on-year, reaching 700,000.

Luxury tourism is the "hidden paper" for Athens tourism

In addition, it is revealed that luxury travel is a great opportunity for Athenian tourism. Related searches show a 20% increase in 2019 versus 2018 (in the first two quarters) and a 70% increase in 2018 compared to 2017.

Brexit seems to affect British searches for Greece, as they are down 13% in 2019, as well as for other competing destinations outside of Turkey (+ 5%).

Germans and Spaniards are more likely to seek Greece (+ 13% and 20% respectively), as are Italians (+ 6%), while French searches for our country are at negative levels (-7%)