Greek Tourism Revenue to Rise by 15%, Says GNTO Secretary General

Tourism-related revenues are expected to rise by 15 percent this year over 2022, according to Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) Secretary General Dimitris Fragakis.

Addressing the 8th Delphi Economic Forum 2023 last month, Fragakis said Greece had taken concrete actions to overcome the Covid-19 crisis and emerge stronger and more resilient three years later.

A key priority for the next day, said Fragakis, is upgrading education in tourism and offering reskilling options that will enable current sector employees to meet the increasing demands of post-Covid travelers.

This, the secretary general said, had been achieved to a great extent through Google tourism training programs for 250,000 employees since 2015.

GNTO Secretary General Dimitris Fragakis.

The head of Greece’s tourism bureau went on to refer to the shortage of staff in tourism which is plaguing the sector. This year alone, tourism enterprises are short of some 80,000 employees, he said. Among others, Fragakis attributed the problem to the sector’s seasonality as well as to the decision by a large segment of the Greek workforce to seek jobs abroad.

The government, he said, has taken action to address the issue by granting residence permits to third country nationals for the 2023-2024 period to meet the demands of the market. He went on to add that at least 10,000 third country nationals will be covering tourism jobs this year. Fragakis went on to stress however that the tourism sector should be able to meet the demands of younger employees and job seekers.