In an interview to the Austrian newspaper Der Standard, Ioannis Afukatudis, of Greek descent, who heads the Austrian branch of the Thomas Cook travel agency, expressed his belief that Greek tourism is experiencing a “regeneration” and that Greece has overcome the biggest difficulties, as far as tourism is concerned, which represents one third of the Greek GDP.
Greece will be the “winner” of the tourist season concerning the rates of increase, as Afukatudis reported. He said that what a Minister of Tourism should do in Greece is rebuild trust and instead of promising too much, the minister should clarify what is possible to be done and what is not.
He added that infrastructure should be improved, as for example, airports and the services there, the fees requested to be paid by air companies, as well as the hotels’ categorization and accommodation’s certification, because there are “black sheep” that cast a shadow on holidays in Greece.
Afukatudis pointed out that over the last years, other countries apart from Turkey have benefited from the Greek crisis. Turkey presents very good results this year, as Austrians have great trust in this country, which was number two in Thomas Cook for the summer 2012, while for 2013 Greece and Turkey will compete for second place.
He noted that tourism in Turkey has not been negatively affected until now by the incidents in Istanbul and other cities and that there have not been requests for booking changes or cancellations.
Afukatudis estimates that the situation in Turkey will remain calm, as Turkish citizens take into consideration that the domain of tourism is very important for them, as it contributes 30 percent to the country’s GDP.