The necessity for tourism to be included in an overall national plan was underlined by Stefanos Kasselakis in a working meeting with Tourism agencies. The president of SYRIZA PSstressed that “you will have an open mind and a technocratic approach from us”, adding that “we can make this national plan and it will succeed for all Greek men and women”.

Mr. Kasselakis expressed in particular the position that “an integrated and far-reaching plan is needed that combines both infrastructure and culture to be able to strengthen our tourism activity”. He referred to culture as a comparative advantage of our country, pointing out that this concerns both our cultural heritage and our modern culture. “Tourism must be complementary to our culture, so that tourism lasts 12 months and not just the season”, and concerns the whole country. He added that all the different approaches of each region must be combined with the infrastructure. As he developed, “the country went through a ten-year memorandum, covid, the public sector has been largely destructured and there are difficulties in decentralization in the country”. He emphasized that tourism workers throughout the country need stability, “so the issue of transportation, public health, public education and outside Athens is the way we can support tourism throughout the territory.”

Mr. Kasselakis pointed out that from tourism too many families live, underlining that it is “a main vehicle of resilience and together with shipping is one of the most extroverted activities of the Greeks”. He added that there is the approach in which tourism must be developed even more in order to increase from the 20% that is currently its contribution to the economic activity of the country, enriching it with culture and through decentralization. In the same context, he said that tourism as part of the “pie” must be increased so that there can be “investment” in infrastructure and local needs to reduce inequalities. “We have a treasure, we have to make use of it and if we do, there will be a convergence with Europe in the long term” he said, stressing that now the fiscal goals are achieved by “impoverishing” the citizens.

The head of Tourism of SYRIZA PS Kalliopi Vetta he emphasized the importance given to tourism by the official opposition. “Tourism must be sustainable, which means respect for the environment, growth for businesses and respect for workers.” “We will be by your side,” he said. The former head of Tourism Katerina Notopoulou stated that “we guarantee that we will continue to stand by you in all fair requests, I firmly believe that we should all claim more together to achieve them”. MEP and former Minister of Tourism Elena Kountoura referred to the work of the SYRIZA-PS government in the field of tourism, saying that “the SYRIZA government was the first to recognize the value of tourism, how productive a ministry it is, how many figures depend on it”. She said that during her tenure in the ministry under SYRIZA “we had a tourism strategy that paid off” and that when she left and went to the European Parliament “we had broken all records in revenue and arrivals” while, as she said, there was also an explosion of investments in the sector. “Tourism is a revenue multiplier” he underlined.

The meeting was attended by: SETE – Association of Greek Tourist Companies, FEDHATTA – Federation of Greek Associations of Travel & Tourism Agencies, EPEST – Association of Greek Tourist Boat Owners, ELIME – Greek Ports Association, SEEN – Association of Passenger Shipping Companies, HAPCO & DES – Association of Greek Professional Conference Organizers, POXEN – Panhellenic Federation of Tour Guides, STEEAE – Association of Tourist Car Rental Companies of Greece, GEPOET – General Pan-Hellenic Federation of Tourism Companies and SETEUDA – Association of Greek Tourism Companies of Outdoor Leisure Activities.