Greece expects half a million tourists from the U.S. this year, more than any other time before, Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias said on Monday.
“We have never had 500,000 travelers directly from the U.S. to Athens [in one year],” Kikilias said, reminding that the first flights arrived on March 7 from Atlanta, Chicago and Boston, “and there is now a direct service on all three major American [air] companies,” he said.
Nine flights a day will be conducted from the U.S. alone, a number that corresponds to 63 flights a week, while – as Kikilias said – there seems to be the possibility of direct flights to other major U.S. airports, and from the U.S. to Thessaloniki too.
“Tourism is the great economic engine of the country – and rightly so,” said the minister, referring extensively to the optimistic messages for this year’s tourism season, both in terms of reservations and the level of first-time arrivals in the country, citing the example of increased tourist flows from the U.S.
Kikilias made a special reference to the qualitative data of this year’s tourism arrivals, as well as the strategy for the extension of the tourism season in Greece; this is being implemented after a long effort, not only by the ministry but also by the Greek National Tourism Organization, Marketing Greece, tourism officials across the country and the private sector.