ATHENS – For generations, Greece has relied on sun, sand, beaches and islands and word-of-mouth, not massive publicity campaigns, to hope tourists would come, mostly for the summer, but now they’re wanted all year.

Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias told CNN at the  World Travel Market (WTM) trade fair in London that the country will showcase what it offers in off seasons to persuade people to come although the COVID-19 pandemic is resurging.

He said there have been reach outs to tour operators, travel agents, airlines from Great Britain, the USA and France keyed toward a late winter-early spring push to begin the tourism season earlier, expecting a big comeback in 2022.

Greece, he said, will promote new destinations: more islands, small and large, the mainland and city breaks featuring Athens, which has developed a reputation as a European buzz city, and the cosmopolitan Thessaloniki, the country’s second-largest city.

He said that Greece has 320 million euros ($370 million) from the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF) to improve its infrastructure, the country already seeing more 5-star hotels and luxury resorts opening and planning to do so.