Kikilias: Social policy is the institutional interventions of the government to support citizens

"Social policy is not words, nor wishes. Social policy is the institutional interventions that we undertake in order to support our fellow citizens, in practice," Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias pointed out in an interview with OPEN TV on Sunday.

Kikilias noted that tourism is a key driver of economic growth, as revenues from the tourism product end up directly - as he said - to the average Greek family, employees and shopkeepers, farmers and the owners of small and medium sized enterprises.

He also referred to the significant effect of tourism in reducing unemployment, as shown by the latest data from "Ergani system". As he explained, 124,365 new jobs were created in April, mainly due to the dynamics of tourism.

"This is a performance that is a record of twenty years. Equally important is the fact that 60 pct of these new jobs are full-time," Kikilias added. As he stressed, the tourism workers are the ambassadors of our country abroad. "Therefore, the dividend from the success of the tourism product should come primarily to them," he said.