Tourism Industry Must Diversify

Mawab Khan, Foreign Press Association Treasurer; Evgenios Yiannakopoulos, Hellenic Tourism Organisation Secretary General; and Kostas Paris, Foreign Press Association Vice President.

Greece’s tourism industry must diversify and invest its energies into developing alternative forms of tourism, stressed Hellenic Tourism Organisation Secretary General Evgenios Yiannakopoulos at a recent press luncheon organized by the Foreign Press Association of Greece. He named theme parks, cultural tourism, spa resorts, sports-based trips, marine tourism, rural tourism and nature holidays as key areas that hold great potential for growth.

He added that the competition today is global and fierce and that travelers have a wealth of destination choices. They also are well informed and highly demanding when it comes to price, standards and service, thanks in a large part to the computer age and its vast libraries of information.

Mr.Yiannakopoulos said his organization intends to showcase its newly revamped Internet site shortly, complete with information points that will allow tourists access. He then stressed that alternative tourism would add to the country’s image. As well as providing infrastructure to support this form of tourism, he said his organization hoped to work systematically with environmental organizations.

The organization is also looking at setting up a “one-stop shop” to facilitate investors in the sector who currently run into mountains of red tape.