Greece Considers To Team Up With Germany On Tourism Education

The launch of a Greek-German cooperation to link tourism education with the Greek labor market for students to be absorbed directly by the tourism industry was discussed in a meeting, yesterday, 7 December, between Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni and Germany’s federal deputy labor minister, Hans-Joachim Fuchtel*.

More specifically, Mr. Fuchtel proposed the creation of post-secondary vocational tourism schools in cooperation with the private sector. The duration of studies for the diploma would be three years.

According to his proposal, the students of the vocational schools would work for tourism enterprises through a paid internship and following graduation they would remain in their positions.

He also suggested cooperation between the Greek tourism schools (that are supervised by the Tourism Ministry) and the German tourism school Fachhochschule Westküste Heide.

The promotion of Greek medical and spa tourism were also on the meeting’s agenda and Germany’s federal deputy labor minister suggested for Greece to organize a medical conference in Lagadas, Thessaloniki, in 2013.

Also mentioned was the possibility of German insurance funds covering expenses for German medical tourists in Greece.

“Germany is our biggest market for incoming tourism and on our part we must improve our services and enrich the tourism product to attract even more German guests,” Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni said after the meeting.

* It is reminded that Hans-Joachim Fuchtel has been appointed by Chancellor Angela Merkel as a special envoy to promote Greek-German cooperation on a local administration level.