Greek-Russian Tourism Forum To Launch On Sunday

Some 50 leading Russian tour operators and travel agents will attend a Greek-Russian tourism forum in Athens to further discuss ways of cooperation with the Greek tourism market, the president of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, Yiorgos Tsakiris informed journalists today, Monday, 4 February.

The forum will be held this Sunday, 10 February 2013, under the organization of the hotel chamber and with the cooperation of the Tourism Ministry.

Greece is making efforts this year to attract a larger share of tourists from Russia and prospects seem to be very positive since arrivals from Russia  in 2012 were estimated to have exceeded one million (official figures have not yet been released).

According to data, Russian arrivals last year increased some 30 percent compared to 2011 when visitors from Russia had already increased by some 64 percent (740,000 tourists) from 2010 (400,000 tourists).

In regards to tourism revenue, visitors from Russia are among the biggest spenders in Greece as it is estimated that every Russian tourist spends 20 percent more money on average than the next highest ranked tourist by country of origin.

The program of the Greek-Russian forum is expected to be announced in the next few days.