by Maria Spiliopoulou, Valentini Anagnostopoulou
ATHENS, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Greece's tourism industry, a traditional strong pillar of Greek economy for decades, withstood the eight year debt crisis and even thrived, according to official figures.
Tourism sector is expected to be one of Greece's powerful engines for growth in the post-bailout era, Greek Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura and representatives of the sector told Xinhua.
"Tourism is a top priority for our government. It is the driving force for the Greek economy and we have enhanced tourism role as a powerful engine for growth. Tourism represents more than 20 percent of our GDP and about 1 million jobs creating new sources of income and employment," Kountoura said.
Tourism is also the bridge for growth in other productive sectors such as transportation, trade, exports, construction, energy, primary production, the agri-food sector and new technologies, the Greek official noted.
During the years of the crisis, efforts to establish Greece as a global attractive 365 day destination were fruitful, leading to historical records in all tourism figures, he said.
"We increased inbound tourism by 25 percent from 24 million in 2015 to 30 million international visitors in 2017. For 2018 we expect more than 32 million tourists with a dynamic double digit growth in both arrivals and revenues, a new all time record," Kountoura stressed.
The secret of success lies in the extension of the summer season and enhancement of winter season, as well as focus on new dynamic foreign markets of high spenders, the development of thematic tourism and attraction of more than 350 new investments in four and five stars hotels and resorts, she explained.
"Tourism has a leading role in our government's national strategy for growth and for Greece's productive reconstruction. We created an attractive environment to maintain our tourism's strong momentum for a sustainable and inclusive tourism growth that brings new opportunities for economic and social prosperity over the next years," Kountoura told Xinhua.
"Tourism throughout the crisis has been and remains one of the central pillars of support for the Greek economy. Indicative is the fact that direct revenues from inbound tourism over the past eight years hit an impressive figure of 100 billion euros (115.7 billion U.S. dollars)," Yiannis Retsos, President of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), told Xinhua in a written statement.
The numbers look good, but measures should be taken to ensure that the tourism industry can further grow.
"The implementation of a coherent development plan to enhance competitiveness will create the conditions for maintaining Greek tourism in growth orbit over the coming years," Retsos noted.
In this direction, tax rates should be reduced, while the improvement of the investment environment and the operation of a flexible financial system, were also prerequisites, he argued.
"Policies to support investments and attract capital should also be put in place and tourism entrepreneurship should be supported by specific incentives. At the same time, political stability should be maintained," Retsos said.
"For our part, at the Greek Tourism Confederation, we continue the dialogue to highlight issues that enhance the position of Greek tourism at international level. We attach great importance to strengthening the links between tourism, culture and the agri-food sector, believing that synergies offer new business opportunities and prospects for sustainable development of local communities," SETE's President stressed.
Lyssandros Tsilides, President of the Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies (HATTA), highlighted the dramatic slump in domestic tourism compared to the surge in arrivals during the years of the crisis and efforts to help austerity-hit Greeks continue travelling.
"If we consider that in 2010 we had 15 million arrivals in our country and in 2018 we exceed 32 million, we are talking about double numbers. It is a remarkable result, given that our tourism product became more expensive due to increased VAT rates," he told Xinhua.
After all, despite tax hikes, Greece has so much to offer and remains a unique destination, he said.
"The negative thing is that after 2010 and after the introduction of capital controls (in the summer of 2015) Greek travel agencies lost 80 percent of Greek travelers," Tsilides noted.
The image has started to improve lately. The numbers of Greeks travelling across the country during the Christmas holidays or summertime increased by about 10-15 percent compared to the same periods last year, he said.
"We managed to offer Greek travelers such prices so that they can also go on vacation somewhere," Tsilides explained. (1 euro= 1.16 U.S. dollars)
