ATHENS – Grecotel group CEO Marie Daskalantonaki sent a message of optimism for this year's tourism season in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) on Tuesday.

She underlined that safety and realism are the priorities of the new era. Grecotel, the largest hotel chain in Greece, announced the opening of its hotels, sending a message of optimism and rekindling hopes for a change of climate for this year's tourist season.

"The group proved its leading position by showing the path that the businessmen of the sector must follow, but also the representatives of Greek business in general, fully in line with the position of the Greek state, as expressed through the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis," she said.

As tourism is the crown jewel of the economy and hotels are its diamonds, she underlined the dominant and primary position of the tourism industry in the Greek and global economy and called on tourism forces to take advantage of recent measures, with health safety as the main guideline for decisions and planning for both this summer and 2021.

Regarding Grecotel's decision to be the first to announce the opening of its hotels, Daskalantonaki stressed: "We did not rely on any over-optimistic assessment, but on the fact that the company had drawn up its plans for the next phase of the pandemic while maintaining its contacts with 10 major foreign markets."

"The group," Daskalantonaki pointed out, "did not take any risks, but simply took it for granted, opening the market, as we should, being the largest hotel chain in Greece with 36 hotels, 6,700 employees in 2019 and a presence in 40 markets abroad."

For this year, Grecotel is planning to open 20 of its 36 hotels, but the occupancy rates will determine the final number. This year, special emphasis is placed on the targeted approach of foreign markets that can be a catalyst for this summer, which is different. The Balkan countries up to Romania that have road access to Greece, countries with good health, such as Germany, whose citizens trust Greece and the tourist relationship with Greece are crucial, as well as traditional guest reservoirs, such as Russia and Ukraine, together with the Mediterranean countries and Arab countries and the Greeks themselves, who can help realise the optimistic perspective for this season. For the Greek market, Grecotel designed the "Summer at sea", the experience that, as it was underlined, "we want to relive".

The video that accompanies the new but enduring product of the group, presents a holiday proposal where the outdoor natural environment and the sea guarantee the coveted peace and safety.