Trade with Greece
113
act as a catalyst for swiftly restarting the real
economy, and offer direct opportunities for sur-
vival to struggling businesses, as well as direct
opportunities for reactivation to a robust, albeit
marginalized, labour force.
There is no doubt that, given Greece’s natural
environment, history and civilization, tourism is
one of the most reliable options for the economy’s
swift exit from the crisis, and the enhancement of
the growth prospects of other industries; this is
not to say, though, that it can (and must) become
the dominant industry.
In any case, this is a huge challenge, of interna-
tional dimensions. A recent study that was carried
out on behalf of the World Travel & Tourism
Council (WTTC) demonstrates that nowadays
tourism is supporting 266 million jobs worldwide,
and it will support 347 million jobs by 2024.
Moreover, in 2014 it contributed more than €6 tril-
lion (!) to the global economy, an amount that is
projected to reach €9.5 trillion in ten years.
Admittedly, this issue cannot be reduced to a
mere presentation of numbers. In the case of des-
tinations such as Greece, with marked qualitative
features that define its tourist (and not only) iden-
tity, finding and promoting certain “small” details is
quite often the extra element that offers the
required comparative edge. For example, let’s
see the findings of a survey conducted by
Universities and Hotelier Associations in Crete, a
region that posted record arrivals during the pre-
vious year.
As a matter of fact, international charter arrivals to
Heraklion stood at 2.6 million, while, as compared
to 1994, the number of tourists rose by 48%. At
Chania, arrivals stood at 937,000, increased by
In the previous year, total foreign tourist arrivals stood
at 20.1 million. Among major tourist markets, arrivals from
France registered the greatest increase
—
27%
—
to 1.46 million.
”
“
