In 2024, income from British tourists will exceed 3 billion. euro – About 16% increase in pre-bookings for 2025
The messages coming from the British tourist market for Greek tourism are optimistic, stressed the general secretary of the Greek Tourism Organization, Andreas Fiorentinos, at an event of the Secretariat of Productive Agencies and Entrepreneurship of the ND in the context of the 39th Philoxenia Hotelia at the “Nikolaos Germanos” conference center in TEF.
“For 2025, pre-bookings from the English market have increased by approximately 16% compared to the same period last year,” said Mr. Fiorentinos and added: “We spoke in London with airlines, trying to make Greece even more attractive for other destinations as well within the country, for airlines, so that they bring people, which are dispersed throughout the territory and not only in the iconic destinations that we know. We had the opportunity to speak with tourism agents, all of them are very optimistic. Greece is a tourist destination and if we consider that the trend is slow tourism, which gives you the opportunity to discover a country, then Greece is that destination. This year, we will surpass the 3 billion euro revenue from the English market.”
Mr. Fiorentinos also spoke more generally about the trends in tourism, about the infrastructure projects and about the effort to highlight other less prominent areas of the country, which, however, have the conditions to become tourist destinations. “There is a huge effort being made by the government, the Prime Minister of the country Kyriakos Mitsotakis understands that tourism does not go on autopilot, for this reason he has managed to include many projects in the Recovery Fund. Over 300 million to modernize the infrastructure for tourism, so that we can help to spread the tourist flow throughout Greece” said Mr. Florentine.
Regarding Thessaloniki in particular, the general secretary of the EOT underlined that it is a destination with great prospects and has special characteristics, it has a distinct history, culture, monuments included in UNESCO, short distances from unique antiquities, good infrastructure and many comparative advantages and added: ” It is a city break destination, which we promote to airlines primarily and after the completion of the major projects and after the operation of the metro also begins and in combination with the cruise, all these will highlight Thessaloniki even more”.
The film and creative industry is a sector that can contribute to the promotion of the country as a tourist destination and to the strengthening of the tourist stream, the president and managing director of Creative Greece (EKKOMED SA), Leonidas Christopoulos, emphasized in his online intervention. “Since 2019, the country has financed almost 211 productions with the amount of 130 million, which means that it has up to multiple eligible costs as investments in the country and – because we return 30% – 40% – 60% is left in the country” said Mr. Christopoulos and added: “Currently we have approved almost another, if I remember correctly, 100 projects, which amount to 120 million euros, public expenditure and foreign and Greek and animation and digital game and television series and cinema and documentaries. For the first time, with a government decision, 50% of the subscription TV fees will come as income, as a resource to the new body (EKKOMED SA)”.
Mr. Christopoulos explained that the newly formed body, which he heads, came from the merger of the old cinema center with the old national audiovisual media center and added: “Now under the purview and supervision of the Ministry of Culture, it is a body which obviously focuses on film and audiovisual sector but also has an expanded mission, in terms of the creative industries, in terms of the role of technology in these industries and in these sectors, in terms of the role in education and training on these objects, in the role of extroversion and the promotion of Greece, the fight against piracy, the protection of cultural heritage. So, it is an integrated public policy body for what we call the cultural and creative industry.”
Mr. Christopoulos pointed out that the agency is in collaboration with ELSTAT to create a large database for the recording of all workers in all parts of the creative industry, in film music, animation, etc. and underlined: “This sector of the creative industry must be identified – and for this it is very important that the fact that the secretariat of productive bodies of the ND gives great weight – as a separate special economic sector of the country, as it is an agricultural sector as it is the shipping sector, such as the tourist sector, etc. The creative sector is a separate economic sector, which actually has some particularities, it has very new technologies, so it is a very modern sector of economic activity, which can bring multiple benefits”.
