Tourism Ministry

Athens International Airport is posting record figures ahead of the invitation for the submission of binding offers for 30 percent of its shares.

AIA - whose official title is Athens International Airport Eleftherios Venizelos - registered a historic record of 25.57 million passengers in 2019 - 1.4 million passengers or 6 percent more than in 2018.

Turkey hopes to attract 58 million foreign tourists and targets more than $40 billion tourism revenues this year, Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has said.

He noted that the exact figures for the full year will be released at the end of the month, but the country probably welcomed 51 million tourists and generated around $34 billion of tourism revenues in 2019.

The Finance Ministry announced on Tuesday that it has prepared a legislative act for the exemption of all Greek hotels suffering consequences due to the sudden the collapse of UK tour operator Thomas Cook from the so-called "stay-over tax" for the period from September 23 to October 10.

The Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) asked the Tourism Ministry at a meeting on Tuesday for a long-term national strategy aimed at upgrading and further enhancing of the competitiveness of the Greek tourism product, with the cooperation of the public with the private sector.

The reduction of value-added tax and a review of the so-called "stayover" levy are a strategic priority for the new government in its bid to boost the competitiveness of the Greek tourism product.

Tourism is a priority sector in Romania, and the current Government has taken concrete steps that have led to its substantial growth, Deputy Prime Minister Viorel Stefan said on Thursday at the opening of the 41st edition of Romania's Tourism Fair (TTR).

Authorities on Feb. 16 began demolishing illegal structures in the famous Cappadocia region in the Central Anatolian province of Nevşehir.

The move came after Nevşehir Governor İlhami Aktaş said the demolition of 15 structures that "were already built or were being built" adjacent to the world-famous "fair chimneys" would start on Feb. 16.

The number of overnight stays was 5.3 per cent higher than in June 2017.

More than 91.3 per cent of these tourists were from the region, Western Europe and Scandinavia.

Visitors from Russia and Serbia still top the list, however, responsible for 17.7 and 13 per cent of the total number of foreign tourists.

The Ministry of Tourism concluded a partnership with the representatives of the Untold and Neversea music festivals in order to promote Romania's tourism, the "All inclusive Transylvania" event being due to become "All inclusive Romania".

Lithuania and Latvia shared with Romania, starting from their own experiences, the particulars and opportunities specific to the process of preparing and exercising the mandate of the EU Council Presidency, and these consultations have identified good practices such as the opportunity to use European funds to prepare the additional staff involved in the presidency, said Romania's Ambass