Tourism minister Olga Kefalogianni concluded yesterday a two-day visit to Israel. On February 5, she visited the 2013 International Mediterranean Travel Market (IMTM) in Tel Aviv and met with her Israeli counterpart Stas Misezhnikov and discussed ways to attract Israeli investment to Greece. 

Following their meeting, Kefalogianni noted that "Israel constitutes a significant market for Greece, […] as 400,000 of its citizens come to Greece and we want this number to grow in the coming years."

Addressing an event at the travel fair, Kefalogianni called the people of Israel "friends and allies" stressing that visitors to Greece have nothing to fear, while she also referred to the growth potential of specialized tourism, such as maritime, diving and medical tourism.

On the following day, the Tourism minister visited Bethlehem - the first female minister to ever visit the Holy City - where she met with Roula Maayah, Palestinian Authority Tourism Secretary.The two officials talked about tourism, focusing on pilgrimage tourism; Kefalogianni also invited Maayah to visit Greece.

The Tourism minister later met with Israeli President Shimon Peres, with whom she exchanged views on recent developments in Europe, Greece, Israel, and the Middle East. They reaffirmed their determination to further strengthen relations between the two countries, while Kefalogianni reiterated the importance of the traditional bonds of friendship that unite the two peoples and expressed the intention of the Greek government for further bilateral cooperation.

Jerusalem Post: Israeli tourism to Greece surges, minister visits (interview); Greek National Tourism Organisation website: Press release [in Greek]