MOSCOW, July 26. /TASS/. There are practically no Russian tourists in Greece this year and many Greek large travel operators are sustaining losses inn the absence of Russian tourists, Russian Ambassador to Greece Andrey Maslov said on Tuesday.
"It will not be an exaggeration to say that this year Greece has practically no Russian tourism," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel.
He recalled that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in early March that the country’s economy would not be impacted by the absence of 500,000 Russian tourists. "I would say it was rather a political statement, because what I hear from large Greek travel operators, from hoteliers - they have a different vision of the situation," he said.
"And I can say that big hotel chains in Greece, which have been oriented to a larger extent to Russian market in recent years, are sustaining great losses in the absence of Russian tourists," Maslov noted.
Greece’s consulate general in Moscow suspended the work of its visa department from June 29 to July 1, with the exception of cases of the humanitarian nature linked with the deportation of Greek diplomats from Russia. The work was resumed on July 4.