Tourism: Russians offer hope for the summer – 400,000 expected to visit

Extremely popular as a destination, it still remains among the Russian travelers our country. Market factors and tour operators, estimate that 400 to 500 thousand Russian tourists will «speak Greek» this summer.

These are the messages sent by the International Tourism Fair, MITT 2021, which took place at Crocus Expo City in Moscow between 16/03 and 18/03. Ο EEA, who is participating after a year of absence, due to the pandemic, was also awarded the «Bright Exhibiting» prize, which was received by the Director of MITT, Artem Chernyshev, the Head of the Russian & CIS EOT Service, Polycarp Efstathiou.

The «All you want is Greece» is the motto of this year's advertising campaign for our country, which participates as a partner country with a 153 sq.m. pavilion among 5 co-exhibitors, among which we meet the largest tour operators of Russia for Greek destinations, Mouzenidis Travel and Tez Toor.

Theocharis: Greece an ideal holiday destination

During the first day of the Exhibition, the President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Minister of Tourism, Harris Theocharis. Mr Theocharis stressed that Greece has devised a plan for the an integrated operational plan for opening up tourism, which will include both Quality as well as security in the services provided.

The Minister of Tourism then focused on the various thematic tourism modules offered by our country, saying: «Traditionally, both luxury tourism and wellness tourism, pilgrimage tourism and the diptych of “sun and sea” win the hearts of friendly visitors from Russia. We believe that, especially this year, this can be strengthened even more and we can achieve even more satisfied tourists. We all need it! And that is why we have worked hard and created the conditions so that this summer, Greece will prove to be an ideal holiday destination. We are waiting for you!»

The Ambassador of Greece in Moscow attended the opening of the Greek pavilion, Catherine Nasika, and the Consul General, Nikolaos Krikos, while today the GNTO will participate as a partner in a major event of TEZ Tour for travel agency executives, journalists and other tourism industry players, where Mr Theocharis will address a new message. A total of 50 regions of the Russian Federation and 15 national delegations are taking part in the exhibition, and so far more than 18,000 representatives of the Russian and international tourism industry have visited the exhibition.