SETE, Greece’s largest tourism business association, is setting out to make Greece one of the top ten tourist destinations in the world.
The announcement was made by the association’s chief Andreas Andreadis on Friday at the Delphi Economic Forum.
“SETE has submitted a road map for the Greece of 2021 to all relevant authorities so that the number of visitors to our country can reach 35 million and revenues reach 19 to 20 billion euros,” Mr Andreadis said.
When asked if he thought the number of tourists would increase if Greece were to leave the eurozone, he rejected the idea as disastrous for local inhabitants.
“If Greece returns to the drachma we will have millions of tourists, but Greeks will be [living] in a ghetto, behind a wall that will separate them from the tourist areas, in the logic of the Caribbean. It would be an absolute disaster,” he said.
“Our aim is for visitors and locals to live well together.”
Mr Andreadis further touched on economic matters, and said that the country is in the economic position it is in not because of bailout programs but due to a lack of vision in the form of a national plan.
“Whoever thinks the memorandums are to blame for the situation we’re in is deluding his or herself. The memorandums must be implemented to put things in some kind of order,” the head of SETE said, adding that Greeks need to have hope for the future to form a new vision for true growth and prosperity.
Mr Andreadis also said that tourism would help other sectors to recover, such as real estate, transport, energy, and agricultural production.
“Greece will not be saved with the third, fourth, or tenth memorandum. It will be saved with a vision,” he said.
“The vision is for Greece to emerge as the best tourism destination worldwide.”