TezTour head says organized religious tourism remains undeveloped in Crete

Despite having hundreds of monasteries, historic churches and significant religious monuments, Crete has not developed an organized religious tourism sector, according to Dimitris Charitidis, president of TezTour, in comments to Cretaone.

Charitidis said visitors to Crete generally do not travel to the island primarily for pilgrimage purposes. Instead, tourists already on the island for other reasons sometimes visit a monastery or religious monument during their stay.

“No organized religious tourism”

According to Charitidis, Crete cannot be compared to established religious destinations in Greece such as Meteora, Mount Athos or Corfu, even though it has significant religious monuments of its own.

“Tourists usually come here, and you suggest an excursion to a monastery, and they’re interested and they go,” he said. “The interest exists, but what is missing is organized demand.”

He added that developing a religious tourism product requires more than infrastructure and monuments. “You need strategy, cooperation, promotion and, above all, a specific audience the product will target,” he said.

Charitidis noted that monastery excursions in Crete used to draw larger crowds, with entire buses traveling to religious sites on the island. He said these were mainly trips organized by people already vacationing in Crete, or by travel agencies that offered such excursions to visitors.

Decline in Russian visitors, rise of other Orthodox nationalities

Charitidis said Russian tourists had previously represented a significant pool of visitors for Orthodox religious tourism on the island, but the war in Ukraine has changed the situation, with travel restrictions and visa difficulties acting as deterrents.

He also pointed to strains in relations between Orthodox Churches, saying that organized development of religious tourism requires support from the Church. “For this to happen in an organized way and for us to be talking about something substantial, it needs the support of the Church, which today is an obstacle,” he said.

Charitidis said visitors from Romania, Bulgaria and other Orthodox countries do come to Crete, but the corresponding interest and demand needed to develop religious tourism has not materialized. He also referred to past efforts to add extra flights, particularly around Orthodox Easter, which did not produce the expected results.

Prospects for development remain limited

“It is difficult for religious tourism to develop in Crete,” Charitidis said, explaining that when people think of religious Greece, Crete is not what comes to mind — Mount Athos, Meteora and other established destinations are.

He said Crete lacks several basic conditions: a large and stable pool of foreign visitors, support from the Church, international recognition of Crete as a religious destination, and a complete tourism product.

Charitidis also said there has been no systematic promotion of religious tourism as a product. “When you have limited resources to manage for promotion, you can’t split them and say you have a million euros for promoting Crete and manage 300,000 for religious tourism. You won’t do a proper job on either front,” he said.

“The opportunity exists, but it isn’t easy,” he said, noting that conditions have become even more difficult because of the war and the current state of relations between Orthodox Churches.

Charitidis concluded that Crete continues to receive visitors to monasteries, pilgrimage sites and historic churches, but this does not amount to organized religious tourism, which he described as a difficult undertaking requiring long-term planning, resources, cooperation with the Church, and a clearly defined target market.