03.09.2020
PRESS RELEASE
Ratification of the Agreement between Greece and Serbia on cooperation in the field of tourism
The Greek Parliament ratified the Agreement between the Governments of Greece and Serbia on cooperation in the field of tourism. The Agreement was proposed by the Ministry of Tourism in a draft law.
The Minister of Tourism Mr. Haris Theocharis welcomed the ratification of the Greece-Serbia Agreement, stating that “at the Ministry of Tourism we systematically monitor the indicators of the Serbian tourism market, noting the great growth that has been noted, especially in the last two years. In this context, we considered it imperative to proceed to a new Greece-Serbia Agreement, especially in the tourism sector and always with the aim of further consolidating the Greek tourism industry as a dominant one in the Balkans and Southern Europe.”
The Minister of Tourism further explained that “statistics show that Greece is a popular destination for numerous Serbian citizens. By way of example, in 2019 alone, Greece welcomed over 1 million Serbian tourists, who spent around 356 million euros during their stay in our country. And, let’s not forget, the population of Serbia does not exceed 7 million people.
In summary, the Greece-Serbia Agreement includes the following points:
– Strengthening cooperation to increase tourism flows between the two countries.
– Encourage the participation of the GNTO in tourism fairs and other tourism promotion events held in Serbia. The same applies to the Serbian Tourism Organisation, with its participation in similar events in Greece.
– Encourage and facilitate investments by Greek and Serbian entrepreneurs, as well as business partnerships in the respective tourism sectors.
– Encourage the organisation of familiarisation and information trips for tour operators and travel journalists.
– Promotion of bilateral cooperation in the field of Special Forms of Tourism, with emphasis on cultural tourism, agrotourism, rural tourism, gastronomic and wine tourism, wellness tourism, spa tourism and religious-sanctuary tourism, etc.
During his speech, the Minister of Tourism also referred to the opening of the Greek tourism market.
“We never said that this year would be good, easy or the same as last year. Nor did we say we would return to a previous normality, but that we would have to adapt to a new normality.”
He went on to say that “on the question of whether or not Greek tourism should open this summer, I have to present the ELSTAT data, which show a 15.2% drop in the second quarter for our country, while other tourist countries had a greater decline in GDP, for example Spain by 22.1% and Italy by 17.3%. In Greece there has been an increase in cases with the opening of the tourist market, but it is much smaller, compared even with countries that have not even opened their borders. Tests have increased dramatically and very few cases have been found.”
Finally, the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Harris Theocharis reiterated that “the numbers we will see at the end of this year can only be positive. And they will certainly be much higher than the ‘point zero’ from which we started. Maintaining a balance between health and opening up our country is an extremely difficult task. For which the Greek Government is fighting hard every day.”
You can watch the speech of the Minister of Tourism Mr. Harry Theocharis in the Parliament at the link below:
