Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis held today a working meeting with the executive committee of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), on the topic of the current tourist season.

“I believe that we have already achieved our main goal, which is nothing less than extending the tourist season so that Greece is not exclusively a place that our visitors prefer only during the summer months,” the Prime Minister said at the beginning. meeting, stressing that “state budget revenues from tourism exceeded the original targets set by the Ministry of Finance. As a result, we have more financial opportunities to support society with a series of targeted measures to combat the import precision crisis.”

“Our overall priority is to update our product as a whole. For visitors who come to our country to spend more money, to measure the success of the tourist season not only by the number of arrivals, but mainly by the income that these visitors end up leaving in our country,” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The Prime Minister referred to both of the government’s main political priorities. Mr. Mitsotakis noted the first thing related to the sustainability of the tourism product: “With the protection of the environment, with the protection of our destinations, especially some iconic destinations that are currently under a lot of pressure, and we must immediately think about their future, with interventions which cannot be put off for long.

“The second is related to tourism workers, with the possibility that everyone will receive the same dividends of success from the development of our tourism product. This is due to better wages, better working conditions, but, of course, also to the shortage of labor that is already observed, which obliges us to plan activities that will have long-term consequences,” emphasized Mr. Mitsotakis.

The Prime Minister also recalled the very great difficulties that the government had to face over the past three years: “The pandemic has become an unprecedented test for the tourism sector, but we have taken bold decisions that have been justified by the result, supporting the brand of Greece, which opens from the first, but completely in a safe way. And I think that we launched last year’s and current developments essentially two or three years ago, when we coped with the unprecedented pandemic crisis with great success and supported the tourism industry,” he said.

“Let me remind you that the average costs per traveler and per tourist increased by 8%. And the numerous investments made by the private sector, planned and already made by the Greek government, as well as public investments in everything related to tourism destinations, are a guarantee for the further development and support of both the agricultural sector and the commercial world and hundreds of thousands of workers in tourism, real estate and construction. Since 8 out of 10 investments are currently of tourist interest or tourism infrastructure,” Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias said.

“Using a very good brand created by the country, which was greatly strengthened during the coronavirus and the Covid pandemic, and how tourism opened in the summer of 2020 and continued to operate in the summer of 2021, in many cases and thanks to the great experience and example for the rest of European countries We have managed to achieve impressive results using this very correct strategy,” said Yannis Retsos, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SETE.

During the meeting, indicators for the first months of 2023 and goals for the whole year were considered. It also notes that last year’s revenue was €2.6 billion over budget, with record revenues recorded in three major markets: the UK, Germany and France.

As noted, passenger traffic at the country’s airports increased by 64.4% compared to the first two months of 2022 and by 2.5% compared to 2019, the last pre-pandemic year when tourism was at an all-time high. It was emphasized that the tourist season is expanding, with special attention paid to air links with the United States and the reopening of China after the lifting of sanitary restrictions.

At the same time, according to the Bank of Greece, travel revenue in January increased by 71.9% compared to the first month of 2022, with a significant increase in revenue from both the European Union and countries outside the 26 partners.

Participating on behalf of the government were Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Kostis Hatzidakis, Minister of Tourism Vassilis Kikilias, Minister of State Akis Skertsos, Deputy Minister of Finance Apostolos Vesiropoulos and Deputy Minister of Prime Minister Giannis Bratakos. at the meeting. SETE Chairman Yiannis Retsos, First Vice Chairman Grigoris Tasios, Vice Chairman Lysandros Tsilidis, Vice Chairman Panagiotis Tokouzis, Vice Chairman Finance Manolis Yiannoulis, Vice Chairman Eutychios Vassilakis, Vice Chairman Kallinikos Kallinikos, Secretary General Giorgos Vernikos, Deputy Secretary General Ioannis Paraskis, Member of the Board of Directors Achilleas Constantakopoulos and Managing Director of Marketing for Greece Ioanna Dretta.

Full statement by the Prime Minister

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to be here with you today at Athens International Airport on the occasion of the official opening of the tourist season, although I believe that we have already achieved one of our main goals, which is nothing less than an extension of the tourist season, so that Greece is not exclusively a place that our visitors prefer only during the summer months.

I also want to express my satisfaction with the overall performance of the industry over the past year. You have clearly exceeded our expectations. And the state budget revenues from tourism exceeded the initial targets set by the Ministry of Finance. As a result, we have more financial capacity to support society through a range of targeted measures to tackle the crisis of imported precision, whether it be energy bills or the overall cost of living and supermarket prices.

You are right, Mr. Chairman, in saying that we have every reason to be optimistic about the future. And I think that what we have achieved together – and when I mean together, I mean the state in all its aspects, as well as the tourism sector in terms of rebranding the country – I think this is very important, and this makes us optimistic not only for 2023, but also for the coming years. We will have the opportunity to discuss all this later, as we have done so many times.

To see the challenges and opportunities that the new markets that we can open up, the new services that we can offer, the overall renewal of our tourism product, because if anything is, I think, a common priority, it is a general renewal. our product. For visitors who come to our country to spend more money, measure the success of the tourist season not only by the number of arrivals, but mainly by the income that these visitors end up leaving in our country. But, as you said, Mr. President, getting closer to the top means strengthening the commitment to protect what we have already provided. And here I would like to share with you two of my thoughts, and these are the immutable political priorities of our government.

One of them is related to the sustainability of the tourism product. With the protection of the environment, with the protection of our destinations, especially some iconic destinations that are currently under a lot of pressure, and we must immediately think about their future, with interventions that cannot be put off for long.

And the second concerns tourism workers, with the possibility that everyone will receive the same dividends of success from the development of our tourism product. This is due to higher wages, better working conditions, but, of course, also to the shortage of labor that is already observed, which obliges us to plan measures now that will have long-term consequences.

Either to pay more attention to tourism education and how to make the tourism industry more attractive to young people who are now thinking about their professional career – here both the public and private sectors can work very well together so that we can achieve this goal. Or also the ability to use the tools associated with our immigration policy to attract workers from abroad, if it becomes absolutely necessary. I don’t want to take up too much time because we’ll have a lot to talk about. I wish that we have a very successful tourist season, and I am sure that we will all contribute to this.

I am absolutely convinced that the elections on May 21st will not disturb the smooth flow of the tourist season, and from then on, when the time comes for the joint annual report, we will once again be pleased that we have exceeded the goals that we set for ourselves in order for tourism to continue. we are pleased and not unpleasant to surprise.

And, of course, I can’t help but remember, as we are in a better situation again, the very big difficulties that we have overcome, especially in the last three years: the pandemic has been an unprecedented test for the tourism industry, but we have taken the liberty of deciding, which were justified as a result of supporting the brand of Greece, opening from the first, but absolutely safe path. And I think we started last year’s and current developments, in fact, two and three years ago, when we coped with the unprecedented crisis of the pandemic with great success, supporting the tourism sector.

Finally, let me tell you that I am optimistic about the tourism industry for another reason related to the macroeconomic trend, which I am sure will not change in the coming years, perhaps in the coming decades.

I believe we will increasingly seek to spend our disposable income on experiences rather than goods. We offer experiences in all their manifestations as a tourist destination and I believe that the news for 2023 is still encouraging despite the fact that Europe is also facing an economic crisis and precision that is undermining disposable income not only in Greece but also on our main markets.

At the same time, new opportunities are emerging. There are markets that are still completely virgin for us. Let me give you one example, India, where we haven’t even “scratched the surface” of what we can do about the world’s most populous country, which is not far from Greece. So let’s think creatively, think smartly, and let’s keep this excellent level of collaboration that we’ve had over the past few years as a guide for how the public and private sectors should work together.

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