GREECE. Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias has revealed that the duty free shop turnover in Greek airports soared +391% year-on-year in May and, more notably, rose +10.2% compared to the corresponding pre-pandemic month of 2019.
Kikilias was speaking during a radio interview with Greek station Real FM on Tuesday.
According to the Greek Travel Pages website, Kikilias credited a surge in passenger traffic from major international markets including the US as the key factor in the rise. He also lauded the increase in foreign exchange generated mainly from high-income travellers.
“This proves that our aim and efforts to attract tourists that leave additional foreign exchange income to Greek businesses is paying off,” he said.
Kikilias stressed that the Greek Ministry of Tourism is taking “very careful steps” to protect the tourism sector this year due to multi-level challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, inflationary pressures and the energy crisis.
