By A. Tsimplakis
[email protected]
The all-important Greek tourism industry has apparently joined the world's "big league", as recent figures show, putting the country's travel and holiday sector up against premier European national destinations.
According to data compiled by the research arm of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), recent years' arrival figures now place Greece in the same league as France, Italy and the UK.
SETE president Yannis Retsos said 2018 closed with direct tourism-related revenues exceeding 16 billion euros, whereas indirect and incidental revenues exceeding a whopping 40 billion euros.
As far as an oft-cited target of 50 million tourist arrivals annually, up from today's 30 million, he warned that Greece does not have the necessary infrastructure to properly host so many visitors.
