The President of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises, Yannis Paraschis, expressed cautious optimism about the course of arrivals and tourism revenues, speaking at the SETE General Assembly, citing the data for the first five months of the year.

He stressed, of course, that this picture does not apply equally to all tourism activities and all regions:

- Air arrivals compared to 2023 show an increase of +12.4% in the five months (AIA +16.4% and Regional +9.5%).

- Seat planning shows an increase of +8.2% for the full year

- Road tourism shows an increase in the first five months of around +11%

- MVA in the first quarter had increased by 3%.

"The growth momentum of the strong brand Greece built in recent years shows considerable resilience," Paraschis noted.

Speaking about the contribution of tourism to the economy in 2023, compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2019, he noted:

- In the period 2019–2023, inbound tourism in terms of arrivals, with 36.1 million, recorded an increase of +6.1% compared to 34 million in 2019.

- Revenues increased by +13.3% from 18.2 billion euros in 2019 to 20.6 billion euros in 2023. Investments of €5.1 billion are almost double compared to 2019 (€2.7 billion).

The direct impact of the sector on the Greek economy in 2023 was, at current prices, €28.5 billion, corresponding to 13.0% of domestic GDP.

If the indirect contribution of the sector through multipliers is included, this figure reaches 30% of GDP.

In the labour market in the third quarter of 2023: tourism directly accounts for 16.4% of employment, while direct and indirect jobs account for about one third of all jobs, making a decisive contribution to reducing unemployment.

At the same time, the SETE President stressed that the year 2023 was a turning point for the development framework and the future of tourism, as it was a year during which a change in the public debate and political positions regarding the three critical dimensions of tourism emerged: Economic, social, and environmental.