Published on : Tuesday, February 18, 2020
The head of the WTO met the Minister, Haris Theocharis at the Ministry of Tourism emphasized the importance and quality of Greek tourism at the same time praising Athens regarding its support on several issues, which also formed part of the talks Pololikashvili had on Monday with Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“We talked a lot about innovation, about education, and with the support of the minister we are going to think [about] and create a WTO international center in Greece. We are also going to announce a startup competition for entrepreneurs and startups to support and find investors,” the Georgian official stated after his meeting with Theocharis.
He was quoted further that, in Greece, “there are lots of opportunities in investments. Next year maybe we will organize a very concrete and very interesting investment forum, Invest in Greece, to attract more international companies and international institutions to invest and create new jobs in Greece.”
Pololikashvili also observed noted that “the prime minister’s leadership is very important for tourism and we will try our best to promote Greece, a great destination, all over the world.”
Theocharis emphasized that “Greece is in the first league of tourism destinations in the world, but we are not happy with where we are: We want to focus now not on arrivals but in terms of quality and tourism revenue.”
He stated that Greece can attract on the vast experience of the WTO in other countries.
When questioned regarding the impact of the coronavirus on tourism, the WTO Chief confessed that it’s too soon to imagine what the impact will be, “but we are sure that at the end of March we will have a better picture of where we are.” He conceded that “there will be quite serious damage, including to internal tourism in China; we are talking about very big numbers, and of course it will affect the economies of many countries.”
Tags: WTO