Tourism and Development Conference Set for October

The Association for Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) is holding its fifth Tourism and Development Conference in Athens on October 16 and 17.

This year’s theme is designing investment policies for Greek tourism, with the focus on the basic directions for a national strategy for tourism investments and the factors that affect and shape the investment climate.

The association’s announcement said that “tourism plays a leading role in the globalization of world markets. But tourism destinations are not a given nor permanent. Instead, competition will always bring new dimensions that cannot be imagined today. What is needed then is new markets, new products and new investments.”

The conference will serve as a forum for the presentation of a joint study by SETE and the Economic University of Athens.

The conference is geared for investors, businessmen and executives, and public sector representatives. Conference speakers will address issues such as, how globalization affects national policy planning for tourism investment; how changes in energy, climate and demographics affect tourism and investment planning; how new technologies and consumer behavior affect the investment arena; and why the competitiveness of Greek tourism depends on new investments.

Panelists will include representatives from international organizations such as the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the International Federation of Tourism Operators (IFTO), the International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IH&RA), the World Bank Group, as well as Universities (Athens and George Washington) and large tourism enterprises (EasyGroup, IMG, Starwood, Ritz Carlton, Accor).