The target of the Ministry of Tourism to have more tourists this year (1300000 Russian tourists alone, last year), was underlined by Tourism Ministry Olga Kefalogianni to the President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias, during their meeting at the presidential mansion.

As she stated, inter alia, this year began with the best portends for tourism. The President characteristically asked: “What will you do with our Russian friends?”.

She responded: “As you said, they are our friends. We had a very large increase last year and we are aiming for more this year, to welcome even more Russians”, with Mr. Papoulias indicating that “you are not affected by the Crimean situation”.

The president asked about last year’s numbers.

“We have 1.300.000 Russian visitors. To tell you the truth, our limit had been at 1.000.000 and we overshot that, which was surprisingly good. Another important point is that Russian tourists spend way more than other visitors. We are not just interested in the number of arrivals, we are interested in a respectable income as well. And since it is our goal to increase average revenue, our aim is to open up more to markets which we know have customers who have a high income”, replied Olga Kefalogianni.

She explained that, for that same reason, she will travel to Australia, as Australians “when travelling, spend alot of money. For us, then, in a country which has so many expats, we have some people there who can pass forth the positive message for Greece. It is important for us to be present, there”.