‘Die Presse’: Capital Controls No Obstacle for Tourism to Greece

Greece may have found itself between a rock and a hard place this summer with everything from capital controls and political instability to lingering talk of a “grexit” and a painful refugee influx but it appears that nothing managed to keep tourists aside, the Vienna-based daily Die Presse reports.

In a recent page-long feature, the German language daily speaks of a record year for Greek tourism with over 25 million selecting the country for its hospitality, among others.

The paper makes reference to statistics for the first half of the year, indicating a 21 percent increase in the number of tourists visiting the country as well as an 8 percent rise in tourism-related revenue.

Stressing the sector’s leading role in the economy, the paper goes on to present statistics indicating country of origin of visiting holidaymakers: with the decline by 60 percent of Russians offset by an increase in Chinese, British, French, Italian and Germans.

Instead of turning away from Greece, the number of German travelers in particular “boomed”, and this the broadsheet says, is due to the friendly prices and the sense of safety. Germans spent less, however, compared to other tourists.

The feature concludes with a focus on the preferred Greek destinations which include Crete, Rhodes and the remaining Dodecanese isles, the Aegean islands and Athens, which is growing into a favorite city break.