Cooperation Essential For Sustainable Tourism In Greece

1st Conference on Green Tourism in Greece – For the first time major tour operators and Swedish tourism professionals openly discussed prospects of sustainable development in Greece and focused on the future.

The need to improve the environmental footprint of Greek tourism destinations through the closer cooperation of the country’s public and private organizations was called for by major tour operators at the first Conference on Green Tourism in Greece held in Stockholm, Sweden, on Thursday, 22 November. The conference was held at Odenplan 7A, Sweden’s first “Green Key” convention center.

The conference was part of the 3G campaign (Greece Getting Greener), a private initiative by Oslo-based communication agency North Events Limited to promote green hotels and regions from Greece in international exhibitions and events.

Fredrik Lindblom, sustainability director for TUI Nordic, Kajsa Moström, communications and public relations director of Apollo Kuoni and Lars Andersén Resare, general manager environment CSR & Crisis of SAS-Scandinavian Airlines presented the green practices of their companies and analyzed what steps to take in the future to enhance the sustainable development of their industry.

The tour operators underlined that tourists give considerable concern to the carbon footprint of a tourism destination they choose for their holiday.

They noted that the environmental problems in Greece, such as garbage collection and other similar sensitive issues, require the cooperation of the public and private sector to improve tourism services to the “green” visitor.

On the Greek side, a video of the Sani Resort was screened as an exceptional example and case study of a Greek hotel enterprise that develops and implements innovative green policies.

During the conference, lectures and presentations were given by Stavros Stavrakis, Commercial Attaché of the Greek Embassy in Stockholm; Sophie Bachet, International Director of the Blue Flag Program of the Foundation for Environmental Education; Martin Karlsson, CEO of Håll Sverige Rent for the Green Key program in Sweden; Leonidas Kollas, Secretary General of the Greek Society for the Protection of Nature for the Blue Flags program and Dionysia Papadopoulou, Board Member of the Greek Society for the Protection of Nature and coordinator of the Green Key program for Greece.

The event was attended by many Swedish tourism professionals, such as representatives from Airtours and GoSlow Travel, and journalists of renowned Swedish newspapers and magazines such as TTG Nordic and Dagens Nyheter.

The Greek National Tourism Organization was the lead sponsor of the conference.

A video summary of the 1st Conference on Green Tourism in Greece can be found below.