In an interview with the German newspaper Der Handelsblatt, Greek Minister of Tourism Olga Kefaloyiannis said tourism is a “National Case” to help save Greece from a crushing economic crisis caused by decades of wild overspending and packing public payrolls with hundreds of thousands of needless workers.
She said that Germany is a critical market and made an appeal during her visit to the International Tourism Fair ITB in Berlin, in which Greece had a pavilion, for Germans to come visit her country despite political differences.
The ITB and the Greek pavilion was attended by the Secretary-General of Tourism, Panos Livadas, the Governor of Region of Central Macedonia, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, the GNTO Director of the in Frankfurt, Panayiotis Skordas and the Greek Ambassador in Berlin, Dimitris Rallis
The German paper noted that fewer German tourists visited Greece last year because of images of protests, strikes and riots over crushing austerity measures. The newspaper said the drop was “obviously caused by the unfriendly feelings that Germans have against Greece.” But, it added that, “the tourism market gives hope to Greece, since the numbers of the bookings and reservations for the upcoming summer vacation has increased significantly, in some cases even in double rate.”
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
