Greece has found its place in the ranking of tourist destinations once again. According to provisional data from the Association of Greek tourism enterprises (SETE), the destination's main airports have recorded more than 6.8 million international arrivals between January and July 2013, 9.28% more than the 6.3 million recorded last year during the same period. The excellent performance during the months of May, June and July have enabled Greece to make up for the slowdown which arrived earlier this year. For Georgios Drakopoulos, director of the association, "The recovery of Greek tourism in 2013 is the result of the combination of three factors: the return of visitors who did not choose Greece last year due to the instability in the country (elections, protests ...), making visa procedures easier, especially for the Russian market, but also on the Egyptian side, and cheaper fares, Greek companies having either lowered their prices or improved their services".The morale of tourism professionals should remain in good shape in the coming months, especially with the revaluation of the VAT tax in the hospitality industry. The latter decreased from 23% to 13% on 1 August to the delight of companies in the sector, explains Georgios Drakopoulos: "The reduction in VAT is undoubtedly a positive step that will improve the competitiveness of Greek tourism products, particularly in the restaurant industry. This measure should have been taken at the beginning of the year, but even today it is really appreciated by the entire tourism industry". The VAT reduction, eagerly awaited by the industry, however, is a temporary measure that should only apply to the last months of 2013.This good news feeds the optimism of professionals who are now expecting a 10% increase in sales in the tourist industry throughout 2013, to 11 billion euros. The Hellenic Tourism Office also refers to an expected 20% increase in attendance to the destination by the end of the year, reaching a total of 17 million tourists, against 15.5 million in 2012.The recovery of tourism is good news in a country where the industry accounts for 17% of GDP and one in five jobs. The Greek government thus seems to have grasped the importance of the sector to the economy and be prepared to encourage growth through concrete measures, a good example to its European neighbors.
