Enterprise Greece Prez: Our goal is to make Greece a model of sustainable tourism

The government’s goal to make Greece a model of sustainable tourism, to improve its image and to further upgrade the Greece brand was highlighted by the Secretary of State for International Economic Relations and External Affairs  and president of Enterprise Greece, Ioannis Smyrlis, at the conference “Hellenic tourism: a national affair. Possibilities and perspectives”, organized in Athens.

Mr. Smyrlis, speaking in the “Sustainable Infrastructures in Tourism” section, said that “strategic investments in the tourism sector come to upgrade the tourism product and create an ecosystem with benefits for the wider region”.

Sustainable development

At the same time, he emphasized the importance for sustainable tourism development of the upgrading and suitability of infrastructure, such as airports, ports and marinas, the network of tourist ports, the expansion of the road network, as well as projects connecting airports with ports and subways. But also public utility projects for adequate water supply, for waste management, for the reformation and protection of coastlines and for improvements to archaeological sites and cultural attractions.

“We are interested in the spatial and temporal expansion of the tourist activity, the increase in the average travel expenditure and the length of stay, as well as the strengthening of the country’s penetration in the existing markets as well as its opening to new ones”, he noted.

Finally, Mr. Smyrlis underlined the importance of the current legislative framework on strategic investments in the development of hotel properties in lesser-known areas, such as Preveza. At this point, he pointed out the dual role of Enterprise Greece in attracting investment in the tourism sector by highlighting the investment opportunities presented in Greece and providing targeted support to those interested in implementing the investments.