A recent report from the Bank of Greece (BoG), the country’s central bank, has indicated that the Greek tourism industry, an important contributor to the nation’s economy, could return to pre-pandemic 2019 levels of business in 2022.

A proviso is that the industry diversifies its product range and attracts additional new investment, according to a GTP news report. Within that proviso and the tourism industry as a whole, nautical activities, be it yachting-related, cruise ships or others, play an essential role.

The BoG report states: “Tourism industry performance in 2021 creates favorable expectations for travel flows and related revenues for the next year, during which performance is expected to be around 2019 levels.”

The Bank’s analysts forecast that the tourism sector in 2022 will achieve a growth rate of 5% followed by 3.9% in 2023, dependent upon strong marketing and promotion of the Greek tourist market internationally, the acceleration of investment, and the use of EU recovery to support this crucial part of Greece’s economy.

The BoG forecast is based on the country’s tourism performance last year which was better than expected with revenues of €10.2bn in the January-October period offsetting to a great extent the losses caused by the Covid pandemic. This was the situation until the arrival of the Omicron variant late in 2021.

The Bank’s report describes the tourism industry as being a driver of the economy due to the significant investments in prospects.

Theodoros Skylakakis, the Greek deputy finance minister, has approved a further 55 projects including key tourism developments. These new projects represent an investment total of €3.35bn which will be paid for by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan ‘Greece 2.0’.

Under this program so far over 100 new projects have been announced budgeted at a total of €6.11bn. In respect of the tourism sector, and especially marine tourism, areas included in the program are:

• €161.05m allocated to the upgrade of tourist port infrastructure
• €22.05m to be used to develop diving and underwater tourism

This funding has come from the €70bn which Greece has been assigned from the total EU Recovery Fund of €750m under the plan agreed between Greece and the EU Commission last year.

Other initiatives underway in Greece include the ongoing privatization program organized by the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) of marinas, tourist ports, and some cruise ship facilities in commercial ports. A national network of seaplane service facilities is also being developed.