8 September 2008 | The number of Greek tourists who visited Turkey between January and July of 2008 has increased by 41.5 per cent compared to the same period last year, Greek media reported today.

A total of 309,694 Greeks chose to spend their holidays in Turkey during the first seven months of the year, the Kathimerini newspaper wrote.

Turkey appears to be one of this year’s most popular tourist destinations – marking a 15.33 per cent increase in the number of visitors, which reached a total of 14,771,628 for the first seven months of the year, according to the publication.

This may mean, according to representatives of the Greek hotel managers federation, that Greek tourism may see a negative growth in 2009.

While the country continues to enjoy popularity among tourists from Russia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, as BalkanTravellers.com recently reported, Greek tourists either can not afford to go on holiday or chose to go to other neighbouring countries in the Balkans.

The high prices in Greece deterred about 40 per cent of Greeks from going on vacation at all and caused many others to spend their summer and winter holidays in other countries in the region.

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