“Our two main targets, extending the tourism season and attracting travelers that spend a lot of money on their holidays, are being met,” stated Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias in an interview with Euronews on Wednesday.

Kikilias underlined that the latest Bank of Greece figures for Greek airports are “impressive” as they approach or in some cases even surpass the respective figures for 2019, despite the fact that the current season cannot be compared with the period before the pandemic.

“The year 2019 was carefree, this year we face multiple crises (energy, inflation, war in Europe) while we do not have tourists from Russia, Ukraine and especially from China, which is a huge market.

“Nevertheless, we are first in tourism arrivals from France, Israel and Serbia, and in road tourism from Romania. We are also in the top three for arrivals from the UK, Germany and Scandinavia,” Kikilias said.

This article was previously published at ekathimerini.com.