The Greek islands are the backbone of the country's tourism industry and a key sector of the economy.

Eyeing an opportunity, China's Fosun Tourism Group has acquired its latest hotels on the Greek island of Corfu, hoping for another record-breaking summer tourism season.

Corfu is one of the largest islands in Greece and a popular holiday destination. Every year over a million holidaymakers travel here.

Among the winding streets and medieval castles is where the Chinese group purchased its latest luxury 5-star hotel under the brand Cook's Club.

READ MORE

Chinese travelers flock to Greece

Restaurateurs excited to welcome back visitors

Ancient civilizations, modern friends

General manager Vassilis Kastrinos has been preparing for a summer without any restrictions.

"After years of the pandemic and renovations, we opened our doors last year, but only as a pilot project," he says. "This year will be a true test for Greece, but for us as well. So far though see we numbers are already high, and bookings are higher than expected."

The 195-room hotel offers high-tech services, like digital food ordering, which is aimed at cutting down on food waste.

Cook's Club is Fosun's latest investment, one of eight other hotels under the group's umbrella on the islands of Rhodes, Samos, Mykonos, Crete, Kos, and Evia.

All are expected to be busy this year with Greece's tourism ministry predicting another record-breaking season.

Passenger traffic at Greece's largest airport, Athens International, was already up 74 percent in the first two months of 2023 compared to last year. That's also a rise of 3 percent on 2019's pre-pandemic levels.

The summer tourism season has just started and it's expected to last until October or even November if the sun continues to shine. During this period more than 30 million people are expected to visit the country.

Most tourists fly through Athens or Thessaloniki and travel onwards from there. Now the government is aiming to change that, giving financial incentives for airlines to offer more direct flights.

"For the first time we have made some agreements with airline companies in order to subsidize winter flights," says vice tourism minister Sofia Zacharaki.

"We realize that the main discussion here is direct flights or the regularity of course of flights that come to Greece, not only Athens or Thessaloniki, but also to the regional airports. So we have prepared by drafting agreements with airline companies and tour operators," she adds.

Some of those direct flights have already been shifted to Corfu which sees close to 2,000 flights a month from May to September, carrying more than half a million visitors each month.

The tourism sector including China's Fosun group are hoping for more flights and an extended tourism season will see sunny times ahead for their investment.

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday