T
he said priorities are aligned with the pri-
orities of the Greek presidency as set by
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Greek
Presidency of the Council of the EU coincides
with a difficult period for Greece, as our country is
experiencing the consequences of an unprece-
dented economic crisis, which has led to a pro-
longed recession, a rise in unemployment rates
and difficulties in fostering entrepreneurship and
development.
However, we, as the Ministry of Tourism have been
determined to work hard to turn the difficult con-
juncture into an opportunity, maintaining tourism as
a prime engine for achieving development and gen-
erating prosperity in our country. Indeed, 2013 was
the recovery year for Greece in terms of tourism
arrivals and receipts. Roughly 5.5 million tourists
visited our country in the first half of 2013, up by
12.3% compared with the same period of 2012,
according to figures released by the Bank of
Greece on October 21. Increased tourist arrivals in
the first half of 2013 resulted in an increase of
18.1% in tourism revenues, compared to last year.
As far as sea cruise tourism figures are concerned,
in 2012 each passenger spent an average of rough-
ly 100 euros while visiting the country. A total of
4,737 sea cruise arrivals with 5.4 million passen-
gers were recorded in 2012, generating total rev-
enues of 519.4 million euros. In the first half of
2013, total revenues amounted to 185 million
euros, up by 9.5% compared with the same period
in 2012.
Our efforts are coordinated through the current
national strategic plan for Greek tourism, which is
based on four major axes, namely:
●Carrying out the necessary legislative reforms
with a view to simplifying the procedures and
facilitating tourism investments, supported by the
appropriate institutional framework for the devel-
opment of tourism activities and new and innova-
tive tourism products;
●setting up the spatial plan for tourism as a basic
reference framework for interventions, pro-
grammes and actions linked to tourism develop-
ment;
●identifying a medium-term programming frame-
work, the Partnership Agreement for the 2014-
2020 period, as a tool which will provide us with
the necessary economic resources to implement
this strategic plan; and
Trade with Greece
32
This publication gives me the opportunity to
discuss some recent developments in the Greek
tourism sector, as well as the priorities of our
country, and in particular those of the Ministry of
Tourism, during the Greek Presidency of the
Council of the EU over the first half of 2014.
Tourism is One of the Key
Pillars of Growth, Recovery
and Competitiveness
By Olga Kefalogianni, Minister of Tourism
