by Despina Konti

Tourism constitutes the antidote to recession and unemployment, according to a study by the Institute of the Greek Tourism Confederation (InSETE), as the sector’s overall contribution to the country’s gross domestic product has recently ranged between 22.6 and 37.3 percent, or 40.3-48.5 billion euros, while in the July-September period of last year tourism accounted for more than one in every six jobs (16.9 percent).

As sea-and-sun holidays continue to rate as Greece’s main attraction, tourism in this country has yet to escape its seasonal character, with the bulk of the 27.3 million arrivals in 2017 recorded in the year’s third quarter. Visitors mainly head to the southern Aegean, Crete and the Ionian islands and it there that thay spend the most money. Last year tourism takings amounted to 14.2 billion euros.

The InSETE study also showed that the direct contribution of tourism to GDP came to 10.3 percent or 18.3 billion euros in 2017, up 9.3 percent on 2016. Yet for every euro of tourism activity there is an indirect impact of between 1.2 and 1.65 euros of additional economic activity that adds to the country’s GDP. The direct and indirect employment stemming from tourism respectively amount to 37.2 percent and 44.8 percent of all jobs created.

This article was first published on ekathimerini.com.