“The first victim of the coronavirus in the world is the tourism industry and we must in no way underestimate the magnitude of the economic crisis we are experiencing. It is the biggest financial crisis in 70 years. An unprecedented experience for all, an asymmetrical crisis, which affects all countries and all sectors, except some are affected more deeply. And unfortunately, the tourism sector is at the forefront,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced on Thursday speaking at the 28th Ordinary General Assembly of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE).
This powerful tourism engine for Greece is being carefully restarted, the prime minister noted, adding that “we will reopen the tourism market.”
“Above all with rules of safety for employees and visitors and with a desire that this summer should become an epilogue to the problems but also a prelude to new successes next season. The experience, the plan, and the capabilities exist: Let’s turn this crisis into an opportunity,” he stressed.
“Let’s use the time we have so that the plan for the next decade in tourism, in 2021-2030, corrects many of the chronic problems that all of us have at times carefully swept under the rug, relying instead on some very encouraging short-term figures,” Mitsotakis noted.
He added that the government’s choice in mid-March to completely suspend the operation of entire sectors of economic and social life was a fully informed choice. “We knew that certain areas, such as tourism, would pay a very high cost. But in those hours there was just one priority, to protect public health and the life of Greek citizens and to shield the national health system in order to organize its defense against the virus,” he said.
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