Minister: Greece’s Tourism Season Not Over, Visitors Still Coming

Athens, Greece

Tourist flows to Greece are still robust despite Covid-19, but the achievement is not by chance, said Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias on Tuesday.

“Greek tourism is not on autopilot. It wasn’t last year either. Great efforts have been made in the midst of the pandemic,” he said in an interview to SKAI television.

Kikilias said Greece’s positive tourism figures were a combined result of work by hoteliers, transportation services providers, tourism professionals, airlines, and tour operators, promotional and marketing actions, of its visitors, and of the sustainable tourist product on offer.

He went on to refer to two ministry campaigns aimed at promoting Greece as a winter and spring destination the first scheduled to run in November, December and January, and the second, early in spring – February and March – when many package holidays are set to be finalized. 

The idea is to promote city break and lesser-known destinations in efforts to support hotel enterprises that were impacted by the pandemic and promote year round tourism, he said.

The minister confirmed that the summer dynamic was still strong citing bookings to Corfu, Athens, Crete, Thessaloniki and Rhodes through to November 16, as well as ongoing cruise activity.

Kikilias said the ministry’s current tourism strategy focused on four pillars: infrastructure, crisis management, digitization of services, and training and upskilling.

Looking ahead, he expressed reserved optimism, adding that coordination and focus were required for the effective promotion of the country’s tourism product. He also underlined the importance of effectively channeling recovery funds into investments that will create jobs and improve the standard of living and services.