Op-Ed: Yiannis Retsos on SETE’s action plan for Greek tourism 2030

Resilience, forwardness, strategic outlook, quick reflexes and a winning attitude. These attributes have defined what Greek Tourism stands for, and lead the Tourism Sector’s stamina and growth, today and throughout a prolonged period of recession that was further burdened by the global Covid pandemic.

2022’s Tourism season, to date, has been characterized by a very promising kick off and an increase of arrivals that indicate a remarkable growth potential. Our objective for this year, despite recent geopolitical challenges, is a return to an accelerated Sector performance. This will be based on Greece’s powerful brand name in the global tourism market; a brand name that has come to encapsulate physical beauty, culture, gastronomy, high quality of services and a very positive health & safety footprint, which was built during the pandemic years and has significantly contributed to the country’s reliability.

To do so, SETE, through our INSETE Institute, has undertaken since the beginning of 2022 the initiative to prepare and present to the Government, the local authorities and the Regions, a holistic and detailed National Strategy for Tourism, with a 2030 outlook.

The two key pillars of the National Strategy are the expansion of the tourism season geographically and in through a wider time span, in a balanced and sustainable way. Breaking down these pillars into objectives, we aim at focusing on the extension of the tourism season in order to avoid overcrowding periods and to fully utilize the potential of each destination in a viable way. We do so by taking into account the available infrastructure, proposing further initiatives and aiming at a higher profit margin per visitor. In the National Strategy 2030 we have segmented Greece into its key destinations (13 Regions) and have mapped destinations according to their infrastructure, current “star” tourism products, potential for growth, demand and supply, etc. Each Region has its own, detailed proposed action plans for a transition to a balanced, viable and sustainable model. This is based on the study’s insight that Greece, which scored third globally in the “sea and sand” segment, has significant growth potential in numerous other tourism segments, such as MICE, gastronomy tourism, culture tourism, agro tourism.

Such a strategic initiative calls for a broader market collaboration. SETE aims at engaging in a fruitful dialogue with Greece’s local authorities, in order to enhance and solidify the Tourism Sector’s growth, through a successful contribution of the whole business ecosystem. In terms of Facts & Figures, our aim is, upon certain conditions, for the Tourism Sector’s profit to be 27 billion euros in 2030, with 50 million visits to the Regions and 307 million overnight stays.

To do so, the targeted and effective promotion of destinations is an essential component of the Strategy’s success. In this respect, Marketing Greece also engages in this pivotal role, through highly likeable and recognizable synergies and collaborations, on a local and regional level, aiming at positioning Greece as a unique global destination.

Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) President
Yiannis Retsos

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