Russia and Greece approve joint programme aimed to expand tourist exchange

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a two days' visit to Athens. The Russian President met with Alexis Tsipras, the Prime Minister of Greece, and President Prokopis Pavloupoulos.

Russia and Greece approve joint programme aimed to expand tourist exchange

Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a two days' visit to Athens. The Russian President met with Alexis Tsipras, the Prime Minister of Greece, and President Prokopis Pavloupoulos.

"There are known issues, but there is also something impressive – the number of Russian tourists who visited Greece in March this year increased by 523%. There is much more which can be done and not only in tourism but in other areas as well. I think it is very important at this particular moment to discuss all these opportunities and outline specific steps to be made to implement them", President Putin noted.

Furthermore, the Federal Agency for Tourism and the Hellenic Republic's Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism approved a programme listing joint steps to be made to expand tourist exchange in 2016–2018.

The main goals of the agreement include the facilitation of efforts aimed to mutually increase tourist exchange between the countries, simplification of formalities to facilitate tourist exchange between Russia and Greece, and establishment of contacts between Russia and Greek tourist organizations. The parties will cooperate in mutually promoting national tourist products, developing industry-specific education, making capital investments in tourism and improving laws.

"Russia and Greece are strategic partners in tourism. Today, Greece offers our citizens high quality, affordable and safe holidays and lays claims to ranking No.1 among this year's summer foreign destinations. Russia is interested in increasing the tourist inflow of the Greek origin and is ready to offer a variety of types of tourism", Oleg Safonov, the Director of the Federal Agency for Tourism (Rosturizm), said.

The "Russia and Greece: realities and cooperation prospects in tourism" Forum took place in Athens on the 11^th of May with its main topic being the expansion of cooperation in tourism. According to forecasts, Greece may be visited by up to 1 million Russian citizens this year.