Hoteliers ask for refugee plan to consider impact on tourism

Greece's failure in dealing with the challenge of the migrant and refugee crisis constitutes the biggest threat to the country's tourism, as the government appears unable to address and plan for the needs of the sector that brings in the biggest portion of incoming foreign currency.

This inability to manage the country's tourism image in international markets in relation to the migration crisis became evident in the current tourism season, as it was the main reason for a drop in arrivals and revenues recorded in the first half of the year. Were it not for the threat of terrorism in neighboring countries in the Mediterranean that diverted part of the tourism flow to Greece, local tourism might have remained in negative territory in the second half, instead of showing an apparent recovery.

The president of the Association of Hellenic Tourism Enterprises, Andreas Andreadis...