Giannis Retsos – The goal of 15 billion euros for 2022 is achievable

Travel receipts for our country will reach 10 billion euros in 2021 while for 2022 the goal of 15 billion euros is achievable.

The above assessments were expressed by the president of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises, Giannis Retsos, speaking yesterday at the Conference: Greek Tourism, a national affair.

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“So, this year, we will definitely reach 10 billion, that is, in the last quarter of 2021 we will move to about 65% of 2019 which was 2 and something billion, so we expect around 1.3-1.4 billion. So we will reach a number around 10, 10.1, 10.2 billion euros. These 3 billion more than 40%, which was the forecast of the last budget revision, mean plus two points in the country’s GDP, in the growth rate which will eventually reach this high point, mainly due to this change in tourism.” underlined Mr. Retsos.

Regarding 2022, he noted that “the 15 billion provided by the budget for 2022, I believe that no matter how the pandemic develops by March, it is a completely realistic goal and it is possible to exceed it.”

At the same time, Mr. Retsos explained why 2022, although it will also be a year of pandemics, will be an advantage for Greece. “Greece, he said, has managed in the last two years to be considered a very safe holiday destination. So in 2022, when again the criterion will be the pandemic, one of the main criteria of travel and safety, I believe that again, despite the fact that the other countries will have entered the “game” and competition, I believe that we will have the advantage and that problems we face most competitively, which will mainly have to do with our quality and strategy in the future, will come from 2023 onwards, not from 2022.”

Referring to the future, the president of SETE considered the synergies of public and private sector to be crucial for the further development of tourism.

“These synergies must be on a daily basis and of the essence”, he stressed and continued: “Because tourism has huge prospects in our country. All the global trends show that the next decade will trend upward for tourism, regardless of the pandemic. So Greece, which is currently the 5th strongest tourism brand in the world, has all the conditions to follow this upward trend, as long as there is a clear strategy and very close cooperation between the public and private sectors. “