Greece will receive twice as many foreign visitors in 2021 as it did last year, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in an interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper on Thursday.

Mitsotakis said that tourism arrivals in 2020 were down by 75 percent compared to 2019, but he is optimistic that the vital tourism sector can recover another 25 percent of the lost ground.

“I believe that the trends are optimistic,” he said as he urged German tourists to visit the country.

“They should come to Greece. After this pandemic, I am sure that people will want to travel, they will want to relax,” he said.

The summer is seen as key for the country’s chances of lifting its economy out of the mire of the Covid-19 pandemic following an 8 percent fall in GDP last year as restrictions hit the sector.

This article was first published on ekathimerini.com.