Subject: Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-03-20 From: "HR-Net News Distribution Manager" CONTENTS [01] PM Tsipras: Greek tourism constantly on the rise [02] A new delay in the review will mean huge problems to the economy, says ND vice president Georgiadis [03] A 68 pct of Greek consumers use plastic money --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [01] PM Tsipras: Greek tourism constantly on the rise Greek tourism is rapidly rising, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Monday said during his meeting with the delegation of Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) at the Maximos Mansion. You must be one of the few Greeks that lost the wager and are happy, said Tsipras addressing SETE president Andreas Andreadis adding that tourism has won the wager. The target of 30 mln tourists in the next period is realistic. Tourism withstood the crisis and offered a boost to the economy, noted the prime minister. Tsipras said that tourism is an added value in which may things must be done and have multiple benefits. On his part, Andreadis noted that in 2021 the revenues from tourism may range between 19 and 20 bln euros and the number of tourists reach 35 millions. [02] A new delay in the review will mean huge problems to the economy, says ND vice president Georgiadis A delay of the second review will bring huge problems to the Greek economy, claimed main opposition New Democracy (ND) vice president Adonis Georgiadis speaking to SKAI radio on Monday. "The government will also miss the April deadline, the Greek economy has went wild and at some point the damage will be so big that the review will mean nothing," he said. "I estimate that the review will conclude because Tsipras (Alexis, prime minister) wants to remain in government", he noted. [03] A 68 pct of Greek consumers use plastic money Around two in three Greek consumers (68 pct) are currently using plastic money, a debit, credit or prepaid card, in their transactions, a survey by Public Issue for the Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ESEE) said. The survey showed by a 61 pct of consumers used a debit card, a 21 pct a credit card and a 6.0 pct a prepaid card. The biggest percentage of card users (more than 70 pct) were men (70 pct), the 35-44 age group (70 pct), the 45-54 age group (77 pct) and the 55-64 age group (72), university graduates (83 pct), employed people (74 pct), civil servants (89 pct), workers in the private sector (73 pct), urban citizens (72 pct). On the other hand, a significant percentage of the country's adult population, 32 pct, did not use plastic money in their transactions. These are mostly women (35 pct), people above 65 years (40 pct), housewives (47 pct), unemployed (40 pct), farm region citizens (40 pct). The survey showed that the percentage of use of debit card on a daily basis was 25 pct, while credit card daily use was 14 pct and use of pre-paid card was 5.0 pct.