“Tourism will once again spearhead the country’s growth in 2022. Not only summer tourism, but tourism throughout the year,” Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias said in an interview with Skai TV on Friday.

He also stressed that occupancy rates at accommodation in Greece’s winter destinations exceeded 90% during the Christmas holidays.

Referring to the next day for Greek tourism, Kikilias pointed out that the ministry is aiming for a sustainable model, adding: “The coronavirus has changed the way citizens travel. I think the issue now is the revenues and the quality of tourism even more than the quantity. In 2021 we exceeded 600 euros revenues per traveler, per visitor for the first time. And this is a sample of a sustainable tourism model that we want to implement and a framework such that we can upgrade the tourist product and increase revenues in every region of the country.

“We want to support our destinations, to have high revenues for tourism that will be distributed to Greek society and to protect the unique experience that the country offers,” Kikilias underlined.

This article was previously published at ekathimerini.com.