Visa Agrees with Ministry to Send Digital Nomads to Greece

Photo source: @Visa

The Greek Tourism Ministry is aiming to attract more remote workers as part of an agreement with digital payments company Visa.

Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias hopes to attract Visa executives to Greece where they will work remotely as part of the ministry’s ongoing digital nomads initiative. The tourism ministry said Visa can send up to 3 percent of its staff or 21,500 people annually to Greece all year round giving momentum to the program.

The news was announced following Kikilias’ recent agreement with Visa CEO for Europe, Charlotte Hogg, which foresees the provision for a period of three years of valid data on international and domestic tourism and travel trends, supporting the efforts for the sector’s full recovery. Under the same deal, Visa will also promote Greece as a travel destination to its users through a special online platform.

The ministry’s remote work program is currently running in pilot phase in Ermoupolis, Syros; Heraklion, Crete; and in Kalamata, Peloponnese, and the aim is to extend the initiative across Greece.

Ermoupolis, Syros. Photo Source: Visit Greece

“In view of the fact that tourism is an important part of the country’s GDP and a leading sector in terms of investment, it is important to formulate a policy based on data. In this regard, we welcome our cooperation with Visa as it will significantly enhance our policymaking capabilities with regard to the design of the country’s tourism product,” said Kikilias.

Visa will be providing the ministry with aggregated data-based information on a number of indicators such as spending patterns, collected through its “Mediterranean Tourism Trends Dashboard” tool. The ministry will in turn assess the data to further improve public and private sector services, as well as to attract more targeted visitors from abroad.

“The data will serve as a tool that will help us target our markets more accurately, identify opportunities, and better organize our strategy for the promotion of Greece,” Kikilias added.