Bloomberg Predicts Record Tourist Arrivals in Greece for 2014

A recent article in Bloomberg predicted that in 2014, a record of tourist arrivals is expected in Greece, with revenues reaching 13 billion euros. According to Andreas Andreadis, president of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), “forecasts show that 2014 will be another record year. Almost all traditional and new markets are showing positive, encouraging signs.” Moreover, estimates of SETE show that by 2021, almost one million people will work in the tourism industry. “The political stability within Greece and the achievement of other national goals, will ensure that Greece will achieve and surpass its goals by 2021,” said Andreakis. The article claims that pre-booking data show that Greece can expect more tourists from Germany and France in 2014 and a 10% rise in visitors from the U.K. More Germans visit Greece than any other nationality, followed by the U.K., the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France and Russia. According to World Travel and Tourism Council data, tourism represented 16.4% of Greek gross domestic product in 2012. The Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras has described the country’s tourist industry as “the first locomotive that started and began to pull our economy out of a painful six-year recession.”  If Greece manages to reach  a target of 24 million visitors by 2021 it would add 9 percentage points to its GDP while creating 300,000 jobs positions.

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