“We want to be leaders in tourism. We want to be champions, we do not want one of the best scores, we want the best. This is achieved with great effort and hard work,” Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias said on Sunday in an interview with Open TV.
“The Ministry of Tourism and professionals directly or indirectly are responsible for the 25 pct of the GDP of the Greek economy,” he added.
“Last week we attended WTM fair in London, with the General Secretary of GNTO, Mr. Fragakis, tourism entrepreneurs from all over the country, airlines, regions and municipalities. We agreed with EasyJet to increase the availability by 500,000 airline seats by 2022. That is, instead of 1.1, it will bring 1.6 million visitors and may reach 2 million. They also expressed their intention to create technical bases in Heraklion and Corfu,” Kikilias said.
He added “we also signed an agreement with Jet2, which includes an increase of 600,000 seats for 2022, 270 flights per week to 15 airports in our country as of April 1, new routes from Birmingham and Manchester to Athens as of April 15, supporting the city break, promoting Athens and the wider Attica region.”
British Airways is also planning to use, in addition to Heathrow, the Gatwick airport with 64 flights to Greece as of December, he underlined.
“Last month we also signed agreements with Air France and Transavia during the French fair Top Resa,” Kikilias stated.
The Greek Tourism Minister also said that October reservations for the summer of 2022, are already 30 pct above the reservations of October 2018 for the summer of 2019. [via amna]
If so, do much, much more to support animal rescue. We love Greece but hate the way you treat strays and try to close down rescue centres. Many, many tourists will stop visiting when they see starving, unneutered animals on the streets. Killing them, as you did before the Olympics is not the answer. Save them, neuter them and re-home them. Too many people abandon them or poison them.
be carefull…they could have rabies… no more money left to vaccinate them .. but maybe you get some more euros from EU
Good point. What I witness on a daily basis about the condition of pets and animals in general saddens me to no end.
Most countries would consider themselves a banana republic if 25% of GDP was from one sector.
The environment is suffering tremendously because of this trend: Everything is about building yet more hotels, bars, restaurants and “rooms to let” on every coastal area. The pressure on the road network, the ecosystem, what’s left of the forest areas is overwhelming. All this leads to more “wildfires”, more destruction, more wildlife extinct, and more pollution. Greece’s stunning natural environment, its small traditional villages and everything we loved about the country is dying for a fast buck. Tourists don’t come ONLY for the beaches you know!
More is better? He want to be the best but only shows off with higher number of tourists. Santorini is already overcrowded, beaches are full of litter, they keep building new resorts all over the place.
If he wants Greece to be the best in tourism, they should do more on quality: improve airport facilities, cleaner roads and beaches, limit new construction (enough old buildings to renovate), protect national parks, turn islands into full green energy locations, center of Athens only accecible for electric cars and scooters, improve hacking trails, etcetera.
In the light of Climate change measures, we need to go for less is better. Quality comes with a price. I’m in tourism and I would like to invest in e-campers. But trying to reach European funds is an endless story.
Tourism needs to be cut not increased. The environment is suffering with all this traveling. Greece needs to find other ways of making money, not just sitting there waiting for people to bring it too them like another handout.