Greece attracts more than 19.5
million people each year, contributing 15% to the
nation's Gross Domestic Product. Greece has been an attraction for
international visitors since antiquity for its rich and long history, Mediterranean coastline and beaches. In 2005, 6,088,287
tourists alone visited the city of Athens, the capital city.
Tourism
in Greece traces its roots to the ancient times. Cultural exchange took place
between the Greek colonies of Magna Graeca and the young Roman Republic before
Rome's rise to dominance of the Western Mediterranean. When Greece was annexed
by the Roman Empire centuries later, the cultural exchange that started
between the two civilization triggered as a result a large number of Romans visiting
the famous centers of Greek philosophy and science, such asAthens, Corinth and Thebes, partly because Greece had become a province of the Roman Empire and Greeks were
granted Roman citizenship.
Tourism
in modern-day Greece started
to flourish in the 1960s and 1970s, in what became known as mass tourism. During
that time, large-scale construction projects for hotels and other such
facilities were undertaken and the country saw an increase in international
tourists over the years. International
events such as the 2004 Summer Olympic Games and
the Eurovision Song Contest 2006,
both held in Athens,
greatly helped to boost tourism in the country, while large-scale
nationally-funded cultural infrastructure such as the New Acropolis Museum also
contributed to the flow of tourists in the country.Thessaloniki will
be European youth capital in 2014.
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