The certainty that 2024 will be a very good year for tourism, as it has already started with positive messages, sent the Minister of Tourism, Olga Kefalogianni, speaking at the 9th Delphi Economic Forum, which is taking place in Delphi from 10 to 13 April and is held under the auspices of the A.E. of the President of the Republic, Mrs.Katerina Sakellaropoulou. However, the Minister pointed out that we are now interested in planning for the long term, with concern for local communities and workers.
In particular, Olga Kefalogianni explained that, when she took over the ministry, she was faced with the dilemma of whether to continue with the tried and tested strategy of pursuing record-breaking years in arrivals and revenues. “But we followed a different path, we are entering a new cycle of development and on this new page, culture is an important link in the chain of tourism development,” she noted, explaining that culture is not only museums and archaeological sites but also festivals, our customs and traditions, that is, a return to our roots.
Asked by Athens-Macedonian News Agency journalist Kostis Chalkiadakis about the projects implemented through the Recovery Fund, he stressed that the fund is a great opportunity because the Ministry of Tourism has for the first time funds to develop the tourism offer. “We have announced projects and the absorption process has started. The bet is within tight schedules to use the available resources,” Kefalogianni said.
At the same time, he said that the ministry’s objectives are to enrich the tourism product, to improve services and infrastructure, to extend the tourist season and to spread the benefits to all regions. This can be achieved, he explained, by funding ski resorts and mountain refuges, by digital and environmental upgrading which means greener marinas, shelters and anchorages, and by boosting diving tourism.
He also referred to the ministry’s new bill, which will simplify procedures for more tourism investments with emphasis on special infrastructure, such as marinas, and will modernize the framework for time sharing.
Finally, in relation to the European elections, he noted that the next day tourism should be upgraded and at the council level the council of ministers should be more formally institutionalised.
