In the latest data from Eurostat which show that Greece is the only country in the European Union with an increase in air traffic this June compared to June 2019, the Minister of Tourism, Vassilis Kikilias, mentioned in an interview he gave to OREN TV and the show “Hour of Greece”.
As the Minister of Tourism underlined, in the previous month, international flights as a whole in the countries of the European Union have decreased by an average of 16% compared to the corresponding period of 2019, except for Greece, which shows an increase of 1%, compared to June 2019. “And this did not happen by chance. It is the culmination of the collective work and proper preparation that we did all the previous period”, emphasized Mr. Kikilias.
The Minister of Tourism, who was on a three-day tour in all four prefectures of Crete, also referred to the great goal of extending the tourist season to twelve months a year, even announcing that the next campaign for sustainable tourism – which is, as he pointed out, the new strong trend in the tourism product worldwide – will start from mountainous Crete. “Crete has all the guarantees to become a twelve-month tourist destination,” said Mr. Kikilias, citing as an example the dynamic performance of tourist arrivals in the city of Heraklion, which in June exceeded – as he said – half a million. “In June, arrivals to Heraklion reached 597,800, with arrivals from Germany recording an increase of 14.16%, from the UK an increase of 14.17% and from Austria an increase of 26% compared to June 2019 . According to the latest figures, 16,000 travelers arrive here every day, a number that increases to 27,000 during the weekend. That is, we are talking about almost a stadium that comes every day to Heraklion alone, if we were to try to draw this parallel. And we all understand what do these figures mean for the economy, the business world and primary production. This is how we balance the losses from the Russian tourist market. And I am really happy to see full shops on my tour in Crete,” noted the Minister of Tourism.
Mr. Kikilias referred to the comparative advantages of our country’s alternative destinations and to the efforts that have been made, throughout the previous period, in order to “illuminate” as many unpopular destinations throughout Greece as possible. “Look, the Greece brand. The Greece brand is strong, because we worked hard all fall and winter. And the dividend from our tourism product is coming, right now, to be returned to the average Greek family,” he stressed.
Regarding the new fully upgraded, digital “Tourism for All” program of the Ministry of Tourism, Mr. Kikilias pointed out that the electronic platform for submitting applications is expected to open on Saturday and reiterated that the 150 euro e-voucher will be able to be used by the beneficiaries until June 2023, for their stay in any hotel or accommodation, whenever they wish. At the same time, the Minister of Tourism referred to the special program that is “running” for northern Evia – up to 150 euros – and Samos – up to 300 euros – in order to strategically support internal tourism and local entrepreneurship separately in these two regions, which were affected last year by the devastating fires and extreme natural phenomena.
Asked, finally, to comment on the sharpening of the confrontation that has dominated the domestic political scene lately on the critical issues of the energy crisis and accuracy, Mr. Kikilias stated: “The Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in an extremely unfavorable environment in an international level with successive crises, he proves every day that he is next to the Greek citizen, not with words but with deeds. I don’t think so much money has been given – over 43 billion euros just for the pandemic – to support our households and fellow citizens which are being tested by external crises. United, we will also face the new challenges. And the poison that has been poured into the political life of the country in recent days by the Opposition, with unacceptable and impermissible characterizations, does not help anyone. These are attitudes and behaviors that do not primarily the Greeks themselves want it”.
Source: Capital
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