War in Ukraine: How much Greek tourism will be affected

The Minister of Tourism, Vassilis Kikilias, referred today to the blow that the war in Ukraine will bring to many sectors, but also to the data concerning Greek tourism.

In particular, the Minister of Tourism, spoke to MEGA channel initially stating that: “We are facing a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. We must support civilians, children and families. What is happening in Ukraine in 2022 shows that we can not know what will happen next. “We have to learn from the crises, it is that one should talk less and analyze the facts more,” he said initially.

“We had 400,000 tourists from Ukraine”

“Tourism is the locomotive of the Greek economy. 25% of the country’s GDP comes from tourism. “We are waiting to see how much the tourist flows to Greece will affect, we had 400,000 tourists from Ukraine and whether the accuracy resulting from the energy crisis will affect the part of travelers’ movement and whether it will go to tourism,” said. Mr. Kikilias.

“We will do everything humanly possible to fill gaps, if any. If we look at the booking figures, airfare and willingness in the larger markets, the messages are encouraging.”

“We are doing what we can to increase the possibilities to host people for a longer period of time, more “high level” tourists, which means more foreign exchange in the country. “We can climb geometrically from April, and we can have tourism until December 2022”, he added.

“People will travel with fewer health protocols”

“The first flights from the USA come from March 7, they also come from Canada and Australia and the thought of all of us is on the one hand to overcome the situation we are experiencing and on the other hand, how to plan a perfectly successful tourist season,” Kikilias said on MEGA channel.

“There was fear from society around the world, but after a very difficult period, we fought an exemplary battle. and that, in essence, promoted our country as a safe country and a country that adheres to the protocols. ”

“People will travel with fewer health protocols. “For those who have the European certificate, having been vaccinated with all three doses, but also including the USA, Canada and Australia, people will not need to undergo any more diagnostic tests, but just bring this document”, clarified the Minister of Tourism.

At the same time, Mr. Kikilias spoke about the decisions that the government is going to take for tourism and health protocols.

“The suggestion from the government will be to further reduce the health protocols and bureaucratic procedures, in order to facilitate the tourists to come to our country, however this will be done in a security framework and in a satisfactory health coverage”, he added.

How inflation will affect tourism

“The energy crisis is a global phenomenon. The move by the prime minister to the security council was to ask for a support fund for energy, as he did with the pandemic. The government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis gave 43 billion, in the pandemic, to all professions and all social classes to support them. This means that even now we will do everything possible to face this crisis as well “, Mr. Kikilias pointed out.

“There are families that move around tourism and there is a huge investment interest around the tourism sector,” concluded the Minister of Tourism, Vassilis Kikilias.