France Shares Tourism Experience With Greece

Greek tourism officials were recently informed by French executives on ATOUT France’s applied tourism policies and practices. ATOUT France is the tourism development agency of France.

The meetings took place 17-18 June in Athens and were attended by officials from the Greek Tourism Ministry, the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) and representatives of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, Invest in Greece and the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE).

According to a press release, the issues raised for discussion by the Greek side included policies of major tourism development projects; hotel categorization planning and procedures for the inspection and certification of hotels; tourism development on a national, regional and local level based on destination contracts for development (Les Contrats de Destination); and applied tourism policies based on the ATOUT France model.

After recording the views and opinions expressed in the meetings, the French side said it would draw up a list of proposals for Greece’s tourism development. The list will then be reviewed by Greece’s political leadership and officials of the Tourism Ministry and the GNTO to see if the French proposals can be adapted to the Greek reality.

The two-day meeting in Athens follows the signing of a cooperation protocol in Paris last December between Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni and the general manager of ATOUT France, Christian Mantei.

ATOUT France has undertaken the tourism management of France, the world’s most popular tourist destination, since 2009.