Haris Kokkosis

President,
Hellenic Tourism Organization

Philoxenia 2004 greeting.

Greece boasts one of the richest ecosystems in Europe, boasts 40 centuries of cultural heritage and is a safe and friendly destination for all tourists. With the latter in mind, our basic aim is the quality improvement of our tourism product along with the development of sustainable tourism. Within the framework of our 10-year tourism development strategy, our major aims are to differentiate and enrich our tourism product, to take advantage of the post-Olympic Games period, and to open new markets.

In order to achieve these aims we intend: to ensure there are tourism activities all year around; to concentrate more on alternate forms of tourism (spas, beauty and health centers, cultural events, conferences, nature tours, marine tourism, etc.); to initiate a strong advertising and promotion program; to promote a stronger cooperation within the sector; to enrich tourism education; to initiate a program to entice tourism investment; and to have a strong presence at the world’s main tourism events and tourism fairs.

Philoxenia 2004 no doubt helps us to achieve our basic aims as it promotes all the comparative advantages of our country. With our new tourism legislation, and in accordance with announcements by Tourism Development Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos, Greek tourism enters a new era within a framework of organized domestic management within the tourism environment along with an orientation toward development and the enticement of investment, and the systematic promotion of all our tourism destinations.

The post-Olympic period we are entering is where our new tourism policy will be judged and the results of which will be evident with the advent of the next tourism period.