Greece’s Alt. Tourism Minister Sees Light at Tunnel’s End

Greece’s Alternate Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura is keeping a positive outlook, expecting revenue from incoming tourism to grow in 2016 despite geopolitics and terrorism.

Speaking on public television this week, Ms Kountoura cited a 6-7 percent rise in the number of arrivals in the first seven months of the year for her optimism and added that more high-income travelers are selecting Greece as their holiday destination. “The logic is that revenue will also increase,” she said.

Ms Kountoura went on to add that though July, August and September were the peak months for tourism in Greece, a true evaluation can only be made in October, and underlined that Greece’s expansion to new markets as well as the ministry’s ongoing promotional strategy for all-year-round tourism is bound to pay off soon.

The minister was quick to point out however that the common assessment that Greece is benefitting from terror acts and geopolitics in neighboring countries is a far cry from the truth. To demonstrate, she said that due to terrorism 16 percent of Germans decided to stay at home with 8 percent choosing Greece for their vacation.