Kikilias: Greece will have excellent tourism season this year
Tourism’s contribution to the Greek economy will be even greater in 2023 than it was in 2022, Tourism Minister Vasilis Kikilias predicted in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency released on Sunday.
The minister pointed out that pre-bookings were at very high levels and passenger traffic at Athens International Airport was higher than in 2022, as well as in the pre-pandemic period.
Greece ranks high in the preferences of European travelers, as shown by the figures released by big tour operators, while the ITB tourism exhibition in Berlin showed a 10% increase in bookings to Greece compared to 2022, Kikilias said.
The minister noted, however, that tourism can’t run on autopilot and referred to action taken by the ministry to open up new markets and strike agreements with powerful actors.
At the same time, there were targeted promotional campaigns to advertise the Greek tourism product throughout the year, he said, predicting that “we will have an excellent season this year.”
The 2023 tourism season began earlier than ever for the islands of the south Aegean, Kikilias pointed out, with the first direct flight to Rhodes arriving on March 11, the same day as the new season of direct flights from the United States to Athens began and just two days after the Delta flights of the previous season had ended.
