I read with great interest the articles by Alexis Papachelas and Statis Kalivas (whose scientific knowledge and sensitivity I highly appreciate) with the titles: “What kind of tourism do we need?”, “The crazy party has started again” and “Greece without summer?” talking about Greek tourism and its prospects, positive and negative. These articles have generated a large number of other publications of all kinds and sources, mainly on the Internet.

All these reflections are, no doubt, fruitful and desirable. I take it for granted that this is to help Greek tourism overcome its problems, not to put it up against a wall.

But when we talk about tourism, it is necessary to have a sufficient understanding of its complexity, both as an economic activity and as a social phenomenon. In short, we need to know under what conditions a tourist product is produced. Otherwise, it’s easy to fall for reviews that don’t get to the bottom of things and unintentionally create a distorted image, whether it’s better or worse than the real thing. Because, of course, Greek tourism is not Mykonos and Santorini, not private flights on training planes and not luxurious villas that are being built on some fashionable islands. These are all small parts of him that are shown disproportionately, perhaps because of the impression they make and the publicity they generate.

In order to contribute to this better knowledge, I would like to refer to two factors that are dominant in the production of our tourism product, but are not perceived to the extent that they should be perceived by public opinion. Unless these factors are found to improve, I fear we will languish in theoretical approaches that will be lost as soon as the ink dries. I will try to briefly describe them:

A. Tourism is an activity of many and small. Major figures in Greek tourism are few and far between. Of the 20 billion euros of our expected tourism exchange in 2022, the turnover of the 100 largest hotel companies in the country with all the hotels they own barely exceeds 3 billion. Our tourism product is produced by an extremely large, complex and diverse array of small and very small businesses. Hotels and inns, rooms for rent, airbnb, restaurants, taverns and taverns, stores selling everything you can imagine, campsites, bars, nightclubs, car and boat rentals, supermarkets, coffee houses. You could write whole pages. All these people are scattered in all corners of the territory, and especially in areas where life is not at all easy and which, without tourism, would certainly be empty. The picture becomes even more complicated when one considers the very large scale of illegal tourism activities carried out (in full, unfortunately, with the knowledge and consent of local societies) by the unsuspecting. To better understand the situation, let’s make a comparison with shipping, which is the second largest branch of the Greek economy. There, the final result is produced by several hundred very large companies, which, of course, have the potential to adapt to global competition (however, they can just as easily move their headquarters outside of Greece at any time). In this whole world of tourism, one thing is basically lacking: knowledge. The very small size of enterprises makes individual acquisition of knowledge impossible. At this moment, the state bears a huge responsibility, because it was completely inactive. This was to be the most important investment in tourism. I know it’s not easy and it takes determination and patience. But it’s a one-way street.

B. The Greek State is a partner in the production of a tourism product. Unlike any other sector of the economy, where the role of the state is supportive and controlling, in tourism the Greek state (at all three levels, but mainly at the local level) offers the same services as the tourist. First of all, advertising and promotion. Then streets, parks, squares, monuments, museums and archaeological sites, cleanliness, garbage disposal are services offered by the state and, obviously, extremely important. If we think for ourselves what made us say that we liked the region we visited abroad and that we would like to go again, we will see that all the things I mentioned above played a big role. You can change a bad hotel, but you can’t change the overall image of a destination.

Of the 20 billion euros of our expected travel exchange in 2022, the turnover of the 100 largest hotel companies barely exceeds 3 billion.

Thus, the Greek state is an informal and necessarily partner of every tourism entrepreneur, and therefore the final result is influenced by its own adequacy. Here, in our country, a serious pathology is recorded, because, unfortunately, to a large extent, elected rulers, as well as many public services (always with bright exceptions) in the first place do not have knowledge, and very often do not even have the desire to act the way they do. should, that is, as businessmen. This often leads to ridiculous situations that we all know that expose not only tourism but our country as a whole.

Despite all this, we see that Greek tourism works wonders, significantly supporting the Greek economy. So what should be done?

In my opinion, the new Ministry of Tourism should be created immediately and from scratch. A modern, strong, technocratically structured and business-oriented ministry that will replace the current small, “old-fashioned” ministry with a small budget. This new ministry should learn from and integrate the best practices of relevant organizations abroad and be staffed (in addition to its existing competent staff) by leading scientists and specialists from the private sector, who will be attracted through international tenders with long-term contracts. and will be paid as in the private sector. Otherwise they won’t come.

Then immediately proceed to the creation of decentralized tourism services, at least in each regional headquarters (or even more densely in areas with high tourist activity), which will be as well organized and staffed as the central ministry. The task of these services will be to immediately begin communication and contact with local communities, with their elected rulers and, above all, with tourism professionals. To understand them, give them advice, mobilize them, and control them. Sounds complicated, but maybe it’s not.

The economic indicators of our tourism are very high now, and therefore we must deal with them.

I would be very happy if there was such a ministry.

* Mr. Stavros Andreadis is the Honorary President of SETE.