MYKONOS – Greece’s two top tourism ‘brands’, the islands of Mykonos and Santorini, are fully ready to receive visitors over the Easter holiday and make up for lost time and revenue, tourism sector representatives told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) on Wednesday.

According to Andreas Fiorentinos, formerly president of the Mykonos hoteliers’ association and currently sector-head for tourism in the ruling New Democracy party, everyone on the island expects a strong tourism season on the go-to island for international celebrities and high-spending cosmopolitan visitors from all over the world.

Mykonos expects to be inundated by those who have holiday homes there over Easter, as well as significant numbers of tourists in May when all the island’s hotels will be open.

This optimism is founded mainly on the resumption of direct flights from the United States, with nine flights a week, in addition to four flights a week from Canada, given that there are signs of heightened interest in Greece in those markets this year.

On Santorini, most tourist enterprises are already up and running for the summer and fully ready for the Easter rush. According to former mayor and visitable winery owner Anastasios Nikolaos Zorzos, there are encouraging signs that it will be a very good year for tourism, while he urged visitors to sample the island’s local products and archaeological sites, in addition to the spectacular views of the Caldera.

He said that steps have been taken to stagger cruise ship arrivals in order to avoid the excessive crowding seen in previous years and he urged the state to take measures to control excessive building on the island.

Fiorentinos also noted that a start had been made toward sustainable tourism development for the flagship islands of the Greek tourism product, guiding them toward a different model of tourism that will serve as a blueprint for other destinations, increasing the resilience of the tourism ecosystem, increasing revenues from tourism and protecting the natural environment for future generations.