ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece expects its revenues from tourism to hit 22 billion euros ($24.48 billion) this year, reaching another record high, the country’s tourism minister said on Monday.
Greece reported record tourism revenues of 20.6 billion euros last year and data so far indicated that 2024 will be another good year, Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni told a news conference.
“Greece is in the top 10 of the most popular tourist destinations in the world,” Kefalogianni said. “We can be hopeful that revenues could reach as much as 22 billion euros.”
Tourism is a major driver of the Greek economy but a housing shortage has prompted the country to announce earlier this month plans to increase a tax on short-term rentals, ban new licences in central Athens and give homeowners incentives to switch to long-term rentals.
Detailing that plan, Kefalogianni said that the ban will be for new licences for short-term rentals in three districts in central Athens for a least a year.
($1 = 0.8986 euros)
(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas and Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Gareth Jones and Tomasz Janowski)
