Greece’s Alternate Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura was among the ministers of the new cabinet that retained the portfolios they had held in the previous government and, similarly, Giorgos Stathakis remained head of the Economy, Development and Tourism Ministry.
As Mr. Stathakis pointed out during the handover ceremony “despite the difficult economic situation, the outcome for Greek tourism is excellent. It is a record year for Greece. Our partnership needs no introduction. It was excellent throughout the previous period and I am pleased that we will continue together”.
New records
On her part, Ms. Elena Kountoura noted that the ministry and the country’s tourism institutions achieved to raise the figures of Greek tourism to a record high of some 26 million arrivals and 15.5 billion euros in revenue. “We hope that these foundations will deliver even more. We seek and hope that this tourism strategy, the policy we will have for the next four years, will achieve higher results and that every year will be a better one”, she exclaimed.
The minister also clarified that despite restrictions in Greece, due to capital controls, the previous government dealt with the situation without delay and no problems were recorded in the flow of the foreign exchange or in the operations of tourism enterprises.
Priority to the refugees
Ms Kountoura took over her post from outgoing interim minister Alkistis Protopsalti who referred to the ministry’s doings during the past month by pointing out that a priority was given to the influx of refugees to Greece with particular emphasis on specific islands.
“We formed a working group to record the impact of the refugee influx on the Aegean islands and sent the results to the responsible authorities and the European Commission”, leading Greek singer Ms. Protopsalti noted. She also announced that the ministry is considering specific actions for the burdened islands such as intensified advertising at the global tourism exhibitions in London and Berlin and finished her speech by saying symbolically: “I shall continue to sing for my country”.
