Greece’s new Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias says USA tourists will still come to the county despite a waning market demand.
According to a report from ANA, the newly appointed tourism official says people’s love for Greece will continue to drive travelers here. Kikilias posted on his Facebook profile:
′′Greece will continue to receive visitors from the US until the end of the tourist season. This is a very important market that creates added value to the country’s economy. Visitors and tourism professionals in the United States of America and of course expatriate Greeks have shown and show their love for Greece and their confidence in the Greek tourism product.”
Conversely, news from EU officials recently, tells of the bloc suggesting states reconsider allowing entry to all but essential travelers from the US. A CNN report also shows that Europe travel demand by Americans is drying up because of reimposed travel bans by some countries.
Many prime tourist destinations that welcomed back much-needed visitors from the United States earlier this year have so far elected to ignore the non-binding EU advice. Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden have become the first to impose new rules.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus in Greece lingers, putting a damper on every effort to recover an economy already staggered. Tourism has come back, but the anticipated off-season and alt-tourism win will not be happening unless something changes drastically.
Minister Kikilias was also quoted when he was Greece’s health minister on The Guardian responding to questions about new measures to ban unvaccinated people from indoors of bars and restaurants. The new minister claimed back in mid August, “These measures aren’t punitive.” Many people here in Crete feel the measures are punitive and a kind of heavy handed way to force citizens to conform. Kikilias went on to say:
“They are our duty to all those who went through 18 months of the pandemic carefully, those who lost their shops, jobs and had to work from home to protect themselves.”
Greek officials at EODY (PDF) have reported 2,807 new cases of COVID in the past 24 hours, with 38 more fatalities. The good news is, case incidence rates are down everywhere, even on Mykonos. Meanwhile, the mistrust by Greeks of their officials is poignant nowadays.
A good PR exec would caution these officials to carefully script their narrative if the administration wants any chance of continuing to lead Greece. School is about to start in Greece, and everyone is on edge wondering what Fall will bring. The right message and strategy is ever more crucial now.