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Greek tourism making comeback post migrant crisis

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

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Greek tourismGreece’s primary industry, the tourist sector took a major blow after the migrant crisis. However, by shifting its focus and extending the season, it is coming back bigger than ever.
Anyone asked to picture modern-day Greece mostly conjure up media images of displaced people in open boats fleeing war. For tourists looking to escape the daily grind, this distorted view of the country was not appealing.

 
“A lot of people called us thinking it wasn’t safe,” Greece’s national tourist organisation representative to Benelux Angeliki Tzifa said. “We explained many times that it was but when you see TV news with demonstrations and refugees, you could easily think you will visit the Acropolis and see a boatload of refugees.”

 
Given that tourism accounts for a fifth of the country’s GDP, leaders and tourism actors have rallied to bring them back.

 
The popularity of the new kind of gastro-tourism is found in downtown Athens in Yoleni’s, a buzzing grocery store selling high-quality produce from all over Greece. The shop and café, which opened in 2016, is part of a franchise with a second in Boston, USA. To understand the clientèle they are attracting visitors need only head for the fourth floor where they have installed a large playroom for customers’ children.

 
All over Greece, high levels of optimism in the tourism industry can be seen in the number of new hotels being built–254 according to recent figures from the tourism ministry. It adds that an additional 25,000 new beds have been added to existing four and five star hotels since 2013, of which 12,000 were in 2017.

 
Tourist numbers, meanwhile, are improving to pre-crisis levels with over 30 million visitors recorded in 2017. However, entrepreneurs are not leaving anything to chance and are working towards extending the tourist season.

 
Tzifa explained that in 2018 tour operators, hoteliers, restaurateurs and other businesses in Crete have agreed to stay open in October as part of a pilot project. Aegean Airlines is this year extending its seasonal flights into October.

 
For Greece’s last major tourism magic trick it has turned to TV and cinema, offering generous grants to audiovisual productions made in the country.

 
“Greece is a country with a diverse location. It has the most magnificent ruins. It has wonderful, film-friendly weather,” Lefteris Kretsos, general secretary for information and communication at the digital and telecommunications ministry said. “But it’s a country where you see locations are filmed in places like Switzerland and Germany, Africa or the Middle East,” he added.

 
One example of this is missed opportunity is the “Mamma Mia!” sequel, a movie set in Greece but filmed in Croatia. The new grant, which offers a 25% cash rebate on expenses paid upon completion of the production, is the first step in a new direction which Kretsos hopes will take Greece almost effortlessly into homes globally through VOD.

 
A total €75 m has been earmarked for the scheme over the coming five years. Kretsos accepts “there’s a long way to go” before Greece’s reputation as a film destination matches that of its tourism image.

 

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