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Greece saw a significant increase in tourism revenues generated by travellers from the United Kingdom, France and Germany last year in comparison to pre-pandemic levels.
Greece’s Tourism Minister, Vassilis Kikilias, said that the surge in tourism revenues generated from visitors from the countries mentioned above demonstrates a robust demand for the Hellenic Republic, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Kikilias cited data from the Bank of Greece (BoG) for a period from January until December last year, based on which travel receipts by visitors from the United Kingdom were up by 21.8 per cent, by tourists from France up by 16.4 per cent and German travellers up by 10 per cent.
The Tourism Minister stressed that the ministry’s efforts to extend the tourism season beyond the summer months and new agreements with airlines for additional lights had started to pay off.
The data provided by the central bank noted that the tourism-related receipts last year surpassed initial forecasts by 2.6 billion euros, reaching about 17.6 million.
Greek Minister mentioned the agreements with airlines for 63 weekly direct flights from the United States to Athens, which he stressed boosted numbers of American travellers in January and also revenues for the month.
In an effort to meet the increasing number of foreign visitors, authorities in Greece have unfolded plans for new high-priority infrastructure projects, according to the Minister, while he added that eight in ten investments are related to tourism and focusing on the sustainability of the tourism product and of destinations.
The data provided by the BoG revealed that the number of foreign visitors increased by 89.3 per cent and receipts by a total of 67.9 per cent year-on-year, thus marking a rise of 88.8 per cent and 97.0 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, net transport receipts surged by 5.6 per cent.
The Hellenic Republic experienced the highest air passenger traffic recovery last year, according to Minister Kikilias, while this year, the country is also expected to welcome a large number of international tourists.
The Minister noted that air passenger traffic in Greece remained only 1.9 per cent below pre-pandemic levels last year.
At the same time, Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) earlier this month noted that the interest of citizens from Belgium and Germany in visiting Greece increased significantly this year.
Authorities in Greece also said that they expect to become the leading destination for passengers from Balkan states, with the number of road arrivals from these territories increasing by a total of 40 per cent compared to last year’s figures.
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