ATHENS — Greece is once again among the most popular prospective tourist destinations for Russians in 2021, with the travel agencies specialising in trips to Greece and local operators forecasting that, if conditions with respect to the health crisis permit, roughly 400,000 to 500,000 Russians will visit Greece this summer.

This hopeful message was the take away from the Russian tourist exhibition MITT 2021 held on March 16-18 in Moscow with the participation, after a year of absence, of the Greek National Tourist Organisation (GNTO).

The Greek participation was awarded on Wednesday with the 'Bright Exhibiting' award, which was received by the head of GNTO in Russia Polykarpos Efstathiou from the director of MITT, Artem Chernyshev.

Greece was participating as partner country this year, with a 153 sq. m pavilion dominated by the country's new campaign slogan for Greek tourism – "All you want is Greece".

Tourism Minister Haris Theoharis sent an invitation-message on the first day of the exhibition to the tour operators and to the press. "Traditionally, both luxury and pleasure tourism. along with pilgrimage tourism and of course the sun and the sea of Greece, steal the hearts of our friends, the tourists from Russia. We believe that this can be even further reinforced this year and we can have even more satisfied tourists," he said.

Tourism Minister Haris Theoharis visiting Romania

Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Haris Theoharis is paying a two-day visit to Romania on Thursday and Friday.

As he underlined, "in the context of the opening of Greek tourism in 2021 and always with the aim of promoting the country as top destination in the Balkans and the Mediterranean, we are visiting Romania to reaffirm the close bonds of friendship and cooperation with Greece. Romania is a country with 19.5 million people and roughly 1.4 million of them travel to Greece every year. Greece is the top tourist destination for Romanians. Consequently, Romania is a very important market for Greek tourism, with huge potential for further growth. The tourism ministry is proceeding with the implementation of the Greek government's strategic plan for the opening of tourism, starting with the support and facilitation of the flow of travellers from the neighbouring countries".

During his visit to Romania, Theoharis will meet with the Romanian Minister of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism Claudiu Nasui, with a delegation of the Romanian national travel agents' association as well as tour operators. Additionally he will speak to the four larger TV networks of Romania and will give a press conference.