Philoxenia 2013 Set To Open In Thessaloniki

In its 29th year, Philoxenia, Greece’s meeting point for the development of strategies and business alliances among tourism professionals, will open its doors on Thursday 21 November 2013 at the Thessaloniki International Exhibition Center.

At the last edition, a 300 percent increase was recorded in hotel participants along with an 18 percent increase in visitors to the exhibition. Philoxenia last year hosted 100 trade visitors from all over the world and 1,800 prescheduled meetings between hosted buyers and exhibitors from Greece and abroad at exhibition stands.

The organizer of this year’s Philoxenia, TIF-Helexpo, in cooperation with ARTION company, will once again organize business meetings (B2B) for its exhibitors through hosted buyers, the successful hosting program. The international hosted buyers will explore potential multi-level cooperation schemes, enhance and refresh business relations and discover new attractive destinations from Greece, Balkans and Southeast Europe.

[divider]

On the occasion of the Philoxenia exhibition, Greece’s key tourism figures have sent us their greetings. They welcome Thessaloniki’s exhibition and give their point of view on today’s situation in Greek tourism.

[divider]

29th Philoxenia inauguration

The inauguration of the 29th Philoxenia will take place on the evening of 21 November in the presence of the Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni.

Parallel events

A rich program of parallel events will be featured during this year’s Philoxenia. These events include:

Greek Tourism Ministry meeting
The Greek Tourism Ministry will hold a meeting on the National Tourism Strategy with the Secretaries-General of Regions. Reference will also be made to the online strategy of the Greek National Tourism Organization.

[divider]

Religious tourism conference
The Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace and the Holy Metropolis of Thessaloniki are organizing a conference entitled “Macedonia-Thrace: Sites of Saints, Sites of Pilgrims” in cooperation with the Synodical Office of Pilgrimage Tours of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece and TIF-HELEXPO.

[divider]

Greek Breakfast presentation
The Hellenic Chamber of Hotels will present its Greek Breakfast program to tourism professionals and visitors to the exhibition. The event will be held in cooperation with the Thessaloniki Hotels Association and the Chefs Club of Northern Greece.

[divider]

Greek destinations-press conferences
A series of press conferences will be held on many Greek destinations to enlighten tourism professionals and journalists on their tourism product and new strategies aimed to boost visitor numbers.

[divider]

HATTA Awards
The Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies will honor the best travel agency brochures and websites.

[divider]

Board meetings
Hellenic Chamber of Hotels
Hellenic Federation of Greek Hoteliers

[divider]

2nd annual conference of the Macedonia-Thrace Hotel Managers Association
The conference will be held on Saturday 23 November during which the association will analyze the role of new markets in the development of Greek tourism.

[divider]

The 29th Philoxenia wraps up on Sunday 24 November.

GTP will be at Philoxenia 2013 to keep you updated!