B. Kikilias: We are working to expand the direct US-Athens flights

The Minister of Tourism Vassilis Kikilias spoke about efforts to extend direct flights from the USA to “El. Venizelos” until the end of 2022 in an interview he gave to the radio station SKAI 100.3, underlining that the primary goal he set for lengthening of the tourist season seems to be achieved.

The Minister of Tourism also referred to the decisive role played in Greek tourism this year by the fact that at “El. Venizelos” there are no delays and passenger suffering seen in other European airports.

“Now we are at the beginning of the tourist season. What “feeds” the country – let’s not deceive ourselves – is tourism, which this year provides, almost exclusively, income to the Greek economy and to the average Greek family. We aspire, therefore, to go up to in December 2022″ said Mr. Kikilias stressing that tourism is the country’s “heavy industry” as it supports primary production and Greek products and significantly strengthens health care stores, the commercial world and small and medium-sized family businesses.

“The economic staff before the crisis, before the war in the heart of Europe, inflation, punctuality, etc., had budgeted for this year revenues of 15 billion euros from the foreign travelers who would visit our country. And then all these things happened. which happened. Despite this, the financial staff is constantly – and well – revising upwards the income we will have from Greek tourism,” the Minister emphasized, and added that apart from the energy and economic crisis, this year is closed due to the pandemic and the huge market of China which in all the previous years significantly boosted tourism in Greece.

V. Kikilias also referred to his initiative to invite Northern Europeans and German pensioners to spend the winter months in Greece, an idea that is also part of the strategy to extend the tourist season.

“When the Germans educate their society to have energy with the ratio, when the tenants tell the people who rent the apartment that they will have alternating current, or when President Macron – the President of the second largest European democracy and economy – says that we are facing possible food crisis, you understand that the reality in front of us has other challenges. The Mitsotakis government has faced and continues to face many difficult situations successfully in these 3 years. The initiative to invite the Scandinavians, the Austrians, the Swiss, the Germans, the French, the northern European pensioners to come to our country in November and December and January is based on the logic that it will cost them less to take the plane, stay in a hotel in Greece and eat here and have a good time than to they pay for gas and oil in their countries.It is a fact quality which we are fighting in cooperation with the tour operators of Germany and northern Europe as well as with the major airlines, and the Greek hoteliers,” the Minister of Tourism said characteristically.