Bolivia Wants to Learn from Greek Tourism

Photo source: World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC)

Bolivian President Evo Morales on Friday spoke highly of Greece’s tourism development and said he would like for his country to learn from the country’s success in the sector.

Morales had arrived in Greece on Thursday for a two-day visit and made comments after meeting Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. This was the first visit of a Bolivian president to Greece.

Among the issues he referred to was Greece’s experience in tourism and expressed his wish for Bolivia to learn about the way Greece manages the sector.

Bolivian President Evo Morales and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. Photo source: @PrimeministerGR (twitter)

“I would like Bolivia to learn from Greece’s tourism development,” he said.

“Greece is experiencing a tourism miracle that has amazed us and we want to learn from the country’s experience to develop our tourism. We want to send technical teams to Greece to learn from the country’s know-how in the tourism sector,” Morales added.

Bolivian president also mentioned that he had a chance to visit the Acropolis Museum during his visit and was “amazed”.

Following his comments, Greek Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura said: “Our success in highlighting tourism for the last four years as one of the most important productive activities of the country that has an impact on our national economy and society as a whole, without exclusions, can also function as a guide for other countries, such as Bolivia, in the near future.”

Photo source: Visit Greece

Last year, Greece welcomed some 33 million tourists and generated more than 16 billion euros in revenues and breaking all performance records to date.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) recently said in 2018 the Greek sector outpaced the EU’s regional Travel & Tourism growth rate of 2.4 percent. Both the EU and Greece’s wider economies grew at a rate of 2.0 percent, but the Greek travel sector leapt ahead of regional averages.

“Greece is an exemplary case study of how valuable an asset Travel & Tourism can be when the government prioritizes the sector,” WTTC President & CEO Gloria Guevara said.