Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias refers to this 12 months’s tourism efficiency by way of arrivals and revenues, the strategic strikes being made for the event of winter tourism and the objectives for 2023, whereas commenting on the case of Eva Kailis in addition to the stakes of the upcoming elections.
As he acknowledged, the information from the airports, the Financial institution of Greece and ELSTAT present that arrivals and revenues approached and even exceeded in some instances the report performances of 2019, which was, nonetheless, a “carefree” 12 months, with out issues.
“After we examine with the pre-pandemic interval, we should always take into account that within the first months of 2022 the restrictions because of the “Omicron” variant had been in power, adopted by a conflict within the coronary heart of Europe, precision, inflation, an vitality disaster,” stated the minister.
“Indicatively, it is going to Listed below are the figures introduced final week by Fraport: This 12 months’s passenger site visitors on the nation’s 14 largest regional airports set a report with 30.5 million passengers touring from January to November, a 3.6% improve in in comparison with 2019,” he continued.
“As well as, we enhanced the cruise with a rise in homeporting with 5,000 calls in Greek ports, a report quantity, whereas within the context of the sustainable tourism mannequin we highlighted new cruise locations (Thessaloniki, Kavala, Volos, and so on.),” stated Mr. Kikilias, including that regardless of this 12 months’s adversities, journey income not solely reached the goal of final 12 months’s price range, but additionally exceeded it by 3 billion euros.
“That is scorching cash that goes instantly into the pockets of Greek residents, who want it a lot, particularly on this fiscally tough interval,” he stated in an interview with the newspaper “Macedonia”.
Close to the vacationer site visitors throughout Christmas and New Yr, he acknowledged that the occupancy charges are anticipated to maneuver to very excessive ranges, even reaching 100% within the well-liked locations. After the vacations, he famous, a brand new Tourism for All program draw might be held for 125,000 intangible digital playing cards to spice up home tourism and help winter/mountain locations past the vacation season.
Talking concerning the subsequent objectives, he emphasised that 2023 would be the 12 months when the signal of sustainability might be extra seen all over the place. From promoting campaigns to the implementation of a sequence of infrastructure initiatives in island and continental locations, equivalent to stable waste administration, water sources, electrification, renewable vitality sources, ports, marinas, anchorage, mountain trails, ski resorts, wineries, and so on.
He made a particular point out of Thessaloniki, noting that cruises will develop much more – which this 12 months was 10 occasions larger than in 2019 – the town might be promoted as a perfect vacation spot for a metropolis break, whereas on the identical time new openings have been launched within the markets of the USA and of Saudi Arabia and new direct flights.
Concerning the current political developments, he emphasised that the accusations in opposition to Eva Kaili are a really critical matter and that such corruption phenomena shake the arrogance of residents, particularly the brand new technology.
“The hole between politicians and society is rising and if we do not do one thing, sooner or later it will not be bridged anymore,” Mr. Kikilias identified.
“We should all the time do not forget that with out the belief and help of the residents, we politicians are nothing and we should not overlook a single second, who gave us our parliamentary positions and for what causes we had been voted in and are in energy,” the minister added.
Lastly, he emphasised that nobody can dispute that lately the nation has been confronted with a number of and critical crises (pandemic, precision, vitality, Greek-Turkish), nonetheless the federal government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis has confirmed that with seriousness and duty it may be efficient, to take the fitting initiatives in time, to offer options and to be by society’s aspect in any problem that will come up.
“Quickly there might be a political response to the stakes of the poll field and we’ll all be known as collectively to strive once more and full our work for one more 4 years,” stated the Minister of Tourism.
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