WTTC Praises Greek Tourism

The positive prospects of Greek tourism were praised by World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) President Jean-Claude Baumgarten during his meeting with Tourism Development Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos last month in Athens.

Mr. Baumgarten said he expects to see Greece increase its tourism by 11.6% when compared with last year and that revenue from the sector this year would reach around 31.7 billion euros.

“The current tourism period is particularly positive for Greece, which is making the most of the post-Olympic momentum,” he said. “This has been evident in recent months, with its stronger presence in the world and its successful opening to new global tourism markets.”

Mr. Baumgarten confirmed that he and the minister had similar views on many areas, and that they agreed that all in the sector must proceed “to new visions, new goals for world tourism, beyond its figures and its industrial dimension.”

He said that “we believe the world is suffering from two issues: Firstly that people do not meet and talk anymore, and secondly that there are different living standards that we must approach through tourism and traveling and with peoples getting to know one another.”

Referring to the possible impact on global tourism of the terrorist attacks in London, the WTTC head said that the first effect on the UK would be a 2 percent reduction. He did stress, however, that “all these strikes, while they are unfortunately repeated, do not have a substantial, long-term impact on tourism. The world continues to do travel and tourism.”

Mr. Avramopoulos said after the meeting that the issue that dominated discussions most was the general course of tourism on a global level. “We exchanged views and data on how this tourism period is unfolding, and, of course, we developed a series of ideas for Greek tourism to be more and more integrated into the activities of WTTC.”