Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Monday, during an off-the-agenda debate on the repercussions of the Covid-19 on the country’s economy, told MPs that four million foreign tourists have so far been recorded, in an otherwise coronavirus-swamped holiday season.
Mitsotakis said that translates into four GDP percentage points, in deflecting opposition criticism of an opening of the tourist season in the country and the partial opening of borders.
“No one had the right to deprive public coffers of this money,” he said, while reminding that the Greek economy decreased due to the pandemic less than other EU member-states’ economies.
“Every person in the (tourism) industry, from the hotel owner to the young person working as a chef, has no illusions that this summer meant we’d merely try to salvage what we could, to protect the jobs as best we can, so as to come back stronger in 2021.”
