The Minister of Tourism Vassilis Kikilias referred to the extremely high occupancy rates recorded by hotels and accommodations during the Easter days in an interview he gave to SKAI and the program “Morning” with Giorgos Autias, stressing that once again it is proven that tourism is the big ” “blood donor” of the Greek economy.

As he pointed out, this year’s outing for the celebration of Easter is the largest in recent years, with Greeks filling up all the Easter destinations, while at the same time, the presence of foreign travelers who are now arriving en masse in our country is also important.

An indicative example is Corfu, where from last Saturday until today, the flights at the island’s airport exceed 260, of which 200 are international.

Occupancies also reach 100% in Nafplion, Kastoria, Pieria, Messinia, Xylokastro, Meteora, Porto Heli, Ancient Olympia and Zagorochoria, but also in island destinations such as Rhodes, Patmos, Crete, Zakynthos, Chios, Mytilini , Syros, Skyros and Kythera.

“Tourism is the popular economy of the country and the support it gives us fills us with joy, because the Greeks have been tested for many years and we must through tourism contribute to their income” said Mr. Kikilias, noting that the 17.6 billion of travel revenue in 2022 was distributed to citizens through the government’s social policy to deal with the crises that arose at a pan-European level.

“Merchants, owners of health shops, the rural world that gives its products to tourism, construction, real estate and hundreds of thousands of workers, rely on Tourism and are the real economy of the country” said Mr. Kikilias, estimating that in 2023, travel revenue will be at least 10% higher than last year’s.