Employing the age-old practice of “making numbers work for you,” Greek Tourism Development Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos explained he was satisfied  with tourism figures this year, and, “even though tourist arrivals remained at last year's levels, the season was a success.”

Mr. Spiliotopoulos said he arrived at his less is more philosophy after factoring the overall global economic crisis into the equation.

“The Greek tourism sector maintained its dynamism by showing a rising trend in new markets (Russia, East Europe) despite an unfavourable international economic conjecture,” he said.

According to the minister, the “saviors” of Crete’s tourism are the emerging markets, such as Russia, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, which have exceeded one million this year.

Meanwhile, Mr. Spiliotopoulos announced plans for government and tourism professionals to work together more closely to promote the country.

He said the Tourism Development Ministry and the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) will set up a joint committee to coordinate and monitor marketing and advertising efforts.

The decision was taken by Mr. Spiliotopoulos and SETE president Nikos Angelopoulos, the aim being for the committee to convene once every month.

Meanwhile, the Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises (SETE) announced that tourist arrivals at Greek airports fell by 0.78 percent in the January-August 2008 period, compared with the corresponding period last year.

In a statement to the press, SETE said the figures covered international arrivals at the 13 selected airports, including Iraklion, accounting for 95 percent of total air travel in the country.