The Greek Ministry of Tourism has announced that over 16 thousand people visit the Acropolis every day this year.

In a statement issued on August 1, the Ministry also emphasized that it is important to mention that the arrivals of foreign tourists, mainly Americans, have started since March, which means earlier than ever, resulting in pre-pandemic levels, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

The Minister of Tourism Vasilis Kikilias, together with the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni, have also visited the archaeological site of the Acropolis.

As the Ministry explains, the visit of the Ministers started at the entrance of the archaeological area for people with disabilities, where special vehicles pick up the visitors with disabilities and send them to the elevator that takes them to the rock of the Acropolis. In addition, other persons who encounter difficulties can enter the entire archaeological area as well as persons with disabilities.

“This proves in practice that the planning of the Ministry of Tourism to extend the period is paying off, as in many cases, the figures of 2022 approach those of 2019, despite the fact that these two years cannot be compared due to multiple crises that all countries face this year (accuracy, inflation, pandemic),” Kikilias pointed out in this regard.

To his credit, such difficulties seem to have been “equalized” by the targeted actions taken in previous months, such as direct flights from the United States to “El Venizelos” that started at the beginning of March, and efforts are being made to expand until the end of the year.

On July 27, Minister Kikilias also revealed that a total of 5.7 million travellers are expected to visit Greece’s capital by air in the second half of this year.

Kikilias also added that the goal, based on these data so far, seems to have been achieved. In addition, the extension of the tourist season is estimated to last until December 22 this year.

Previously, authorities in Greece also announced that the country expects to welcome almost one million tourists to the country’s airports in the first week of August alone.

In this regard, the Minister of Tourism in July revealed that incoming international flights exceeded 950,000 per week.

Moreover, the Minister affirmed that the turnover of accommodation during the month of May has increased, passing half a billion euros or €26 million more than in May 2019. At the same time, the turnover of businesses in the catering sector has increased by €40 million compared with the same period of 2019.