Greek Commerce Body Seeks Cooperation with Tourism Ministry
The Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ESEE) is calling for the support of the tourism ministry in order to strengthen the link between tourism and retail through a series of joint actions.
In a letter to Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura, ESEE underlines the importance of tourism as one of the country’s “locomotives” for growth and calls on the minister to set the groundwork for the “constructive cooperation” between the tourism and trade sectors.
ESEE goes on to note that data collected from its Commerce and Services Institute (INEMY) can be used to improve the connection between tourism and trade, so that both sectors benefit from tourism’s ongoing dynamic.
“Tourism has significant cross-sectoral interactions distributing benefits to individual branches of economic activity. Retail, in particular, is one of the sectors that has historically developed an organic link to tourism,” ESEE says in the letter.
ESEE concludes that it will publish final data on this year’s tourism activity and relevant results on retail trade in the coming period, and is calling for an open dialogue that focus on ways to include retail trade in tourism planning.
“Our goal is to improve and to direct ‘imported consumption’ towards small and medium-sized enterprises in tourist areas as well as in urban centers, following the recent example of the Athens center shopping district,” ESEE said, requesting a meeting with Kountoura.