The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Greek Tourism

Abstract

This paper examines the economic impact of the 2020 pandemic on international Greek tourism receipts. The uncertainty and risk surrounding the epidemiological conditions make any reliable prognosis of the 2020 and beyond almost impossible. This study relies on information regarding the international pre-bookings of European destinations. According the to the European Union's Travel and Tourism Industry, pre-booking have fallen by 60 to 90 percent. Using these two extreme values and the average of the two, this study develops three scenarios to examine the impact of the pandemic on Greek tourism. In the best of the three scenarios, the contribution of Greek tourism to GDP will drop from 16% to 6.6%. The output loss amounts to 16.8 billion.