Deputy Tourism Minister Sofia Zacharaki appeared confident in recent comments to the press that the new year will act as a springboard for Greece to make even greater strides.

After “saying goodbye to a year of strong recovery for tourism, the conditions for an even more dynamic year in 2022 are in place. We have proved that we can and we will succeed,” Zacharaki told the state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency.

Pointing to last year’s positive performance, she reminded that Greece achieved a qualitative leap by increasing average visitor expenditure by more than 25%, while diversifying its markets.

“As a consequence of this, Greece is recognized by friends and competitors as a protagonist in the recovery of European tourism. And the dynamic growth of our tourism was the catalyst for the overall excellent performance of the Greek economy, with growth of 13.4% in the third quarter and an increase of more than 84% in exports of services, mainly as a result of tourism,” she said.

This article was previously published at ekathimerini.com.