The
role of tourism as a lever for economic recovery dominated a meeting on Monday
between Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni and
the head of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) Andreas
Andreadis at the prime minister's office.
Their talks focused on attracting new investments, creating jobs, increasing GDP through tourism and how to boost local societies and economies through a growing tourism sector.
They also discussed issues relating to the training and education of staff in the tourism trade, agreeing to establish close cooperation between SETE and the tourism ministry.
In statements after the meeting, Kefalogianni noted that Greek tourism can be the vanguard of economic recovery for Greece, stressing that the messages reaching the ministry were positive.
"Our outward-looking policy, the institutional reinforcement of the ministry and our reformist interventions will soon start to yield measurable results," she said.
"In this course, it is evident that the private sector and SETE can and should make the maximum contribution. We need their drive, their experience but also their desire to contribute at such a crucial time for the country," she added.
The minister noted that there was close cooperation with all tourism bodies and expressed optimism that 2013 will be a better year for the sector.
November 20, 2012
