Stavros Andreadis

President,
Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises (SETE)

Philoxenia 2007 greeting.

It is well known that tourism in Greece is an important sector to the economy as well as to society in general. In the global scene as well, Greek tourism holds a strong position. Considering the small size of Greece compared with our competitors, our country’s 12th position in the world, in terms of tourism receipts (according to the UNWTO), points out the existence of a unique and attractive core tourism product.

Now the challenge is to maintain the growth rate by improving the competitiveness. Competitiveness is something relative. It refers to our ability to operate more efficiently and more profitably compared with others, the competitors. Therefore, we should always have in mind that it is not enough to simply improve ourselves from year to year, but to achieve higher improvement rates compared with others.

Our strategic direction cannot be other but the enhancement and enrichment of the quality in order to improve our tourism product. In order for Greek tourism to develop in the post-Olympic era, it is essential to have a concrete vision combined with a clear strategic direction and goal setting in a fixed time horizon. Constant improvement of the quality of services is a crucial precondition for the accomplishment of the goals of the great tourist family of our country.

GTP supports the efforts of Greek tourism in this direction in a consistent and professional way. We at SETE express our compliments to our member GTP for its annual edition in the framework of Philoxenia 2007, along with our wishes for every future success.