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Greece Expects 17M Tourists This Year

corfu9Coming off a tough year in which many tourists stayed away because of political and social unrest, Greece is expecting a big rebound in 2013.
The President of the Pan-Hellenic Federation of Hoteliers (HHF),  John Retsos, said he was optimistic that 2013 would be better after many of his members had to cut rates to lure people last year in the wake of protests, strikes and riots over austerity measures.
He noted that this summer almost 17 million tourists are expected in Greece, which means 11 billion euros ($14.37 billion) in direct revenues for the funds in the country, the news agency ANA reported.
Most of the visitors are expected to come from Russia, though, although Germans will still represent the biggest market despite some tension between the countries over Germany’s support of austerity being imposed by the Greek government on the orders of international lenders.
Retsos highlighted that the tourism industry – especially hotels – is not exempt from the economic crisis affecting all sectors. But he said that it would benefit from a reduction in the Value Added Tax (VAT) which had been bumped to 23 percent and was hurting restaurants and related tourism businesses just as the summer season looms. Hoteliers and other sectors dependent on visitors want the rate cut to 13 percent.
 
 

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