In 2023, direct flights from the USA will bring more than 1 billion euros revenues to Greece

More than 1 million travelers and well over 1 billion euros in revenue are expected to be brought to Greece next season by direct flights from the USA, said the Minister of Tourism, Vassilis Kikilias, in an interview he gave to ERT.

“From March 11, Delta’s first flight from New York is coming and – pay attention – so far 56 flights per week from the USA and Canada have already been announced. As the winter and spring progresses, more flights will be added,” said Mr. Kikilias, noting that the last direct flight of the previous season from the US was on January 10, meaning that Athens now welcomes American travelers almost throughout the year.

In particular, regarding the high performance recorded by the capital in tourism, the Minister emphasized that this is a great achievement of all the people in the sector, primary production, the commercial world and the Hellenic Tourism organization which carries out campaigns 12 months a year. As for American travelers, the Minister noted that they stay longer in Athens and secondly and are high spenders and don’t haggle when buying. The minister also doted on that Greek products are consumed in hotels, resorts and health care stores, supported by a large part of Greek society, the middle class. Mr. Kikilias noted that construction has also benefitted since 8 out of 10 investments in the country are now touristic.

2023 performance will surpass 2022

Regarding the forecast for the coming tourist season he pointed out that the picture that exists from the number of pre-bookings is excellent with the performance of 2023 expected to be better than that of 2022, especially in the first months, as last year the “Omicron” variant and the war in Ukraine were important inhibiting factors. However – despite the crises – with strategy and hard, collective work, the travel revenue of 2022 approaches 18 billion euros.