ECONOMY

Bookings bode well for Greek tourism, says hotel owners’ chief

Some 17 million tourists are expected to visit Greece this summer, bringing an estimated 11 billion euros into the cash-strapped state’s coffers, the head of the Panhellenic Hoteliers’ Federation, Yiannis Retsos, said on Tuesday.

Retsos said that the bulk of the traffic will be coming from Russia, which has shown an increased interest in Greece as a destination over the past few years, while Germans are also expected to increase in number.

The hoteliers’ representative added that tourism has not been exempt from the effects of the ongoing crisis, saying that the hotel sector is especially hard hit.

Retsos also said that high taxes are among the biggest threat to the sector and called on the government to reduce the tax on catering services from 23 percent to 13 percent, adding that such a move would bolster the entire tourism service industry.

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