Greek tourism industry optimistic over 2012 season

PanARMENIAN.Net - Greek tourism industry officials are hopeful arrivals in 2012 will remain near last year's record high, despite lagging initial bookings from major European economies, according to AP.

The head of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises says there has been a significant drop in pre-bookings from the continent's strongest economies, particularly Germany.

But Andreas Andreadis says the season can be saved following the conclusion of a massive debt relief deal with the crisis-hit country's creditors.

He said Monday that the target is to keep international arrivals in 2012 above 16 million, and receipts higher than euro10 billion ($13.2 billion).

Last year, arrivals reached 16.4 million and revenues euro10.5 billion - both up 9.5 percent on 2010. Tourism contributed some 15.7 percent of Greece's GDP last year.