GREECE

Greece – officially the Hellenic Republic and known since ancient times as Hellas – is a country in Southern Europe. According to the 2011 census, Greece’s population is around 11 million. Athens is the nation’s capital and largest 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 (what exchange, Roman’s took culture from Greeks, not vice versa) that started between the two civilization triggered (it had started earlier in Italy) as a result a large number of Romans visiting the famous centers of Greek philosophy and science, such as Athens, 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.