Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos met today with a delegation from the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises, headed by Association President Andreas Andreadis.
The meeting focused on issues of cooperation, coordination and development of joint actions for strengthening tourism.
Among the issues discussed was visa policy, in light of instructions that have been issued by Foreign Minister Avramopoulos to all Greek Consular Missions for exhaustive utilization of all potential provided for by the Schengen system, so that visas can be issued to interested parties directly and with a minimum of procedural delays. Foreign Ministry data points to a significant increase this year in the number of visas issues, while a further increase is expected next year, thanks to the expansion of multiple entry visas and cooperation with visa centers in developing tourism markets.
They also discussed the results of the pilot programme for issuing visas at the point of entry on five Greek islands for tourists arriving from Turkey. The results were very encouraging in this case as well, and today's meeting looked at ways of expanding this programme.
Mr. Avramopoulos underscored that the strengthening of tourism and cooperation with tourism-sector agencies, together with the Tourism Ministry, is a top priority for the Foreign Ministry. He stressed that the Ministry is already working intensively to reverse the negative climate and image that has been cultivated in the international news media, pointing to the importance of agency participation in the relevant efforts. It was agreed at the meeting that the Foreign Ministry, the Tourism Ministry and the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises should carry out joint actions aimed at informing tourism executives and entrepreneurs of the potential and opportunities that exist for enhancing their activities.
September 11, 2012