Yiannis Evangelou

President,
Hellenic Association of Travel & Tourist Agencies

Philoxenia 2007 greeting.

As I write these words for Philoxenia 2007 I find myself contemplating the eighties when Philoxenia took its first steps. It was another era when tourism made initial openings and was finding its footing for a new epoch.

Greek tourism has moved into another era of maturity. It has surpassed a critical turning point and has been on an ascendant course for the past three years.

New data governs the tourism market: the liberation of air transport, low cost carriers, the Internet and the revolution it has brought to bookings, and of course the climate changes of our planet that indicate radical changes in tourism are required. We live in a new era that demands a new strategy, new approaches, and a new mentality.

The tourism forces of our country, all of us, must coordinate our efforts and contribute to the reconstruction of our tourism policy, and through a new vision, to create powerful vehicles to compete in quality so as to infiltrate world markets and develop our comparative advantage that is our tourism.

Philoxenia has contributed long-term to tourism development in Greece and has given impulse to the tourism of northern Greece.

For all of us it constitutes a point of reference, an opportunity for the promotion of what our tourism offers, a meeting place for professionals. All of us professionals have supported and will continue to support Philoxenia.

We wish Philoxenia the best of luck for 2007. We call on the state and local authorities to lead the way, to support our efforts as professionals with a contemporary outlook, without offenses and distortions from the competition. We must all build the tourism of the future together.