Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura announced the tourism figures for Greece showing a new historical record for the year 2018.

There were 33 million international arrivals, bringing with them revenues that surpassed 16 billion euros.

Ms Kountoura underlined the enormous contribution that the tourism sector makes to the Greek economy, affecting trade, construction and real estate.

She stated that she will continue to veer towards success in 2019 so as to maintain the double-digit increase, however estimated that the year would be difficult with challenges such as Brexit due to influence the European economy. Other challenges include successive elections in Europe, greater competition from non-EU countries with “subsidisation” policies and the shortfalls of the Greek economy that put expensive advertising campaigns out of reach.

To offset the risks, Ms Kountoura stressed that she would have meetings with tourism industry operators in the UK and the rest of Europe so that tourism could continue its upward trend.