What crisis? Greece expects record visitor numbers in 2016

Greece’s tourism minister has dismissed fears that the ongoing migrant crisis will put Britons off visiting next year - and promised that the cost of holidays will not be adversely affected by recent VAT hikes.

   The latest figures show an 11 per cent increase in visitor numbers to Greece between January and August, compared with the same period last year, with arrivals from the UK rising by a quarter. A total of 25 million tourists are expected to visit in 2015, up from 22 million in 2014 - all despite the country’s economic struggles and the tide of refugees that has threatened to overwhelm several popular holiday islands, including Kos and Lesbos.

   “The migrant crisis has not had a major impact on tourism, despite the way some of the British media has exaggerated the problem - describing an image that doesn’t exist,” said Elena Kountoura, in London this week for the annual World Travel Market. “Even on those islands most affected, tourists are undeterred. Kos welcomed just three per cent fewer arrivals during the first eight months of the year, while in Lesbos, visitor numbers, remarkably, rose by two per cent.

Πηγή: telegraph.co.uk