Greece Wants to Lure Northern Retirees to Move to the Country for an “Easier Winter”
Northern pensioners who want to afford this winter more easily with a significantly lower financial burden can now travel to Greece, according to the Greek Minister of Tourism, Vasilis Kikilias.
In this regard, the Minister also emphasized that winter in Greece, unlike other European countries, is known to be much milder, and thus pensioners will not need to spend much energy and thus save their pockets, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
Retired people from the rest of Europe will also be able to save money since the cost of living is much lower, and at the same time, they will be able to enjoy the beauties of Greece.
“Lufthansa is willing to increase its flights to Greece by 30 per cent for 2023; Austrian flies from Vienna to Thessaloniki and Athens in 1.5 and 2 hours respectively, as do Aegean and Sky Express. All of them understand that there is an opportunity for the industry, for the people of tourism, for our economy, but also for our Northern European partners,” Minister Kikilias pointed out in this regard.
According to him, all contacts and agreements have been made for the realization of the plan. Even hotels and shops with health interests will remain open in the following months in order to serve the Northern Europeans during their stay in Greece.
In addition, the Ministry added that this effort is being made in the framework of the extension of the tourist season to strengthen the local economy and small and medium businesses and thus help the average Greek families to keep their businesses alive.
“We moved with the same logic in February-March when everyone was prejudging public opinion, saying that a disaster will come after the war in the heart of Europe, inflation, the energy crisis. And we managed to have a record year with surplus revenues in tourism that essentially support the country’s GDP, the private sector, the average Greek family, and especially the state coffers in a very difficult period for us as well as for all of Europe,” he said.
In his bid to spread the word about this plan, the Greek Minister will soon travel to Paris and Stockholm.
Previously, Minister Kikilias said that the Hellenic Republic succeeded despite the fact that the EU was in an energy crisis, the deep difficulties of the war, inflation, and Greek-Turkish relations.
He also mentioned the significant increase in travel revenue in June this year, compared to 2019 figures, adding that arrivals at Greek airports have increased by a total of 12 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels.
