“We want to be leaders in tourism. We want to be champions, we do not want one of the best scores, we want the best. This is achieved with great effort and hard work,” Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias said on Sunday in an interview with Open TV, according to ANA.
“The Ministry of Tourism and professionals directly or indirectly are responsible for the 25 pct of the GDP of the Greek economy,” he continued.
“Last week we attended WTM fair in London, with the General Secretary of GNTO, Mr. Fragakis, tourism entrepreneurs from all over the country, airlines, regions, and municipalities. We agreed with EasyJet to increase the availability by 500,000 airline seats by 2022. That is, instead of 1.1, it will bring 1.6 million visitors and may reach 2 million. They also expressed their intention to create technical bases in Heraklion and Corfu,” Kikilias noted and added:
“We also signed an agreement with Jet2, which includes an increase of 600,000 seats for 2022, 270 flights per week to 15 airports in our country as of April 1, new routes from Birmingham and Manchester to Athens as of April 15, supporting the city break, promoting Athens and the wider Attica region.”
British Airways is also planning to use, in addition to Heathrow, the Gatwick airport with 64 flights to Greece as of December, he stressed.
“Last month we also signed agreements with Air France and Transavia during the French fair Top Resa,” Kikilias pointed out.
The Greek Tourism Minister also noted that October reservations for the summer of 2022, are already 30 pct above the reservations of October 2018 for the summer of 2019.
RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations, Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
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