Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, hailed the success of Greece’s tourism sector for 2022 at an event held by the Greek Tourism Ministry at the Hellenic Cosmos Cultural Center in Athens on Tuesday.
According to Ekathimerini, Mitsotakis said the tourism sector experienced “a full recovery” this year and the revival was based on hard work and not luck.
The revenue from Greece’s tourism industry is estimated to reach 18 billion euros (AUD$19 billion) in 2022 with a 5.6% growth in the Greek economy, exceeding the government’s initial estimates.
Speaking at the tourism ministry event, Mitsotakis talked about the challenges and risks of reopening the country in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Greek Prime Minister also stressed how the tourism sector flourished in 2022 despite the challenges of inflation and the war in Ukraine.
“Russian tourists did not not come. Ukrainians did not come. [There was] a spike in inflation, in energy costs. Despite that, Greek tourism returned,” Mitsotakis said.
It is expected by the end of 2022 that tourist arrivals will reach 88% of record levels from 2019, when over 32 million tourists visited Greece.
Source: Ekathimerini