In a study conducted by TCI Research looking at international attitudes towards travel, presented at a teleconference held by the World Tourism Organizatio (WTO) last week, Greece seems to have come out on top.

Based on social media data, the study came to conclusions regarding the travel climate – both in general and for individual destinations. Greece proved to have more positive comments on social media than all other competing markets in the Mediterranean, and especially when compared to Italy, Spain and France.

The country’s lead is not purely a new development due to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in other countries; in fact, Greece has held the top spot throughout 2020, except for a short time in early March; in addition, it’s also seen the smallest decline in positive comments over the last few months, when general attitudes towards travel have been becoming more pessimistic.

The study indicates that the country has solidified its top position – largely thanks to potential travelers’ appreciation for the Greek government’s successful handling of the coronavirus outbreak to date, which has helped the country maintain its image a safe destination for travel.

In addition, the research included two other positive signs: First, the climate for travel in general is recovering, as explained to Kathimerini newspaper by the research company’s CEO, Olivier Henry-Biabaud: “The positive comments on social media are once again outranking the negative and the trend is upward, with half of the negative impact from the pandemic already reduced. That’s a very good foundation for the recovery of tourism.”

Second, while some types of travel may now be under unprecedented pressure from the negative travel climate, other tourism activities, including those connected to the cultural sector such as visits to archaeological sites and museums, have not been as negatively affected.

“While at the moment it’s impossible to predict how tourism will develop, as borders are still closed and health conditions are not yet clear, what we can safely say is that people who want and manage to travel this summer, will do so to destinations that they feel can be trusted,” Mr. Henry-Biabaud underlined.

And Greece seems to have secured a place among those destinations. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that this TCI Research study – which has been praised by the WTO for its methods of measuring consumer attitudes – is based on social media data collected up until one month ago.

Since then, Greece has arguably performed even better in regards to its handling of the pandemic, and has further bolstered its international reputation, indicating that future studies may well show further positive news Greece.

This article was first published in Greek at kathimerini.gr