I
n the past two years, Greek tourism has
grown at rates double than the world aver-
age. Greece has set new records in regard to
tourism statistics, through its direct and effective
political, operational and media response to the
tough conditions and the continuous challenges
in its wider region.
Following the records of 26.1 and 27.5 million
international arrivals in each one of the two previ-
ous years, the year 2017 has started with a spec-
tacular two-digit increase in advance bookings
from all foreign markets, and an additional 1.5
million airline bookings to Greece, while Greece
is named as the major trend of the year by
Europe’s largest tour operators. During his recent
visit to Greece, the Secretary General of the
United Nations World Tourism Organisation
(UNWTO), Taleb Rifai, said that this performance
is admirable, and attributed it to our successful
tourist policy, excellent management of chal-
lenges, and strong political will to provide a major
impetus to the industry’s further development.
Our vision and target is to turn Greece into an
attractive international travel destination, 365
days a year. We are promoting and advertising
the Greek tourism product in a targeted and
organised manner, in terms of steady and sus-
tainable growth for both tourism, and the econo-
my. We are implementing a national tourism strat-
egy that is focused on extending the tourist sea-
son, promoting theme tourist products, introduc-
ing new Greek destinations, opening new foreign
markets and enhancing connectivity, as well as
attracting new tourist investments with an empha-
sis on quality.
We managed to extend the tourist season from
March to November, a long-standing demand of
the tourism market. It was our strategic choice to
open new markets, in order to enable the Greek
tourism industry to penetrate, and develop part-
nerships with, new and emerging overseas
economies. We opened the markets of the Middle
East, China and South Korea, supported the
Russian and US markets, and managed to attract
10% more high-quality tourists. In our effort to
open new markets, we are negotiating the provi-
sion of direct flights to Greece with all airlines.
One of our recent successes was the launching,
from March 2017, of daily airline connections
between Athens and New York and Dubai, all
Trade with Greece
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Aiming at “tourism 365 days a year”, we are
creating the context for the dynamic growth of
the tourist industry and the diffusion of gains
to the local communities.
Tourism 365 days a year
By Elena Kountoura,
Minister of Tourism
