Alternate Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura has announced 2016 as a year of growth for Greece’s tourism industry, as preparations are made to reorganise the Ministry and the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO), as part of a wider policy to reimagine Greece’s tourism strategy.
“Greek tourism is shifting towards quality and we are promoting Greece as a unique tourist destination, the most competitive destination in Europe in regards to value for money. We send a clear signal towards lengthening the tourist season, developing specialised forms of tourism and promoting new tourist destinations, while proceeding into major reforms in the fields of tourism education and the simplification and codification of tourism legislation,” Kountoura said
The Greek Tourism Ministry is expected to receive nearly 20 million euros to promote Greece’s image more effectively abroad with customised strategies and co-operation plans with countries like China, whilst targeting new markets such as India, South America and the Middle East markets especially from the United Arab Emirates.
According to official data for tourists from China, a total of 150,000 Chinese came to Greece in 2015, while in previous years the annual arrivals did not exceed 40,000. As Kountoura stated, there is great potential to increase tourist arrivals from China and numbers over 500,000 Chinese visitors this year would be considered a success for Greece.
Along with the traditional summer campaigns, Dimitris Trifonopoulos, Secretary General of the Greek National Tourism Organisation announced a strategy of developing new pathways and lengthening the tourism season by promoting alternate activities such as canoeing, kayaking, diving parks and so forth.
He also added an advertising budget of approximately 13 million euros has been approved.
