europe regions


Greece plays out a classic revival


The Greek tourism industry’s resilience when confronted with crises underlines the country’s continuing appeal to visitors, writes Dave Richardson


G


reece is emerging from the economic chaos of the past decade to be widely admired as a country that not only makes tourism the bedrock of its economy, but can also cope with major crises that would wreck the tourism appeal of many destinations. It came as no surprise to the many loyal visitors to Greece that its economic woes –


including suff ering the worst debt


crisis in Europe – were never apparent in its tourist resorts. Even


though many people working on the front line of tourism were suff ering, the welcome never wavered and Greece has been rewarded with impressive growth throughout the crisis.


The image of economic deprivation was bad enough but the refugee crisis was probably worse in terms of global image. Pictures of “boat people” arriving and sometimes dying on the shores of eastern Aegean islands, including Lesbos and Kos, shocked the world but, by and large, Greece has coped.


Building on its success Neither the debt crisis nor the migrant


crisis are over but Greece is confi dent it can cope and build on its already very successful tourism industry. International arrivals increased by 25% in the past three years, with annual growth more than 7% higher than the global average. In 2017, tourism revenue increased by 10% to a new record. Minister


of tourism Elena


Kountoura


Box head for here...


wtm.com Xxxxxx xxxx says: “Tourism is a top governmental summer 2018 wtm insights 43


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