Greece Eyes Tourism Ties with Iran

The Secretary General of the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) Dimitris Tryfonopoulos will lead a delegation of representatives from Greece’s tourism sector to Tehran, Iran, on January 28-29 to strengthen ties and explore potential partnership opportunities. Mr. Tryfonopoulos will be accompanied by representatives of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), the Hellenic Association of Travel & Tourist Agencies (HATTA), Athens International Airport and Aegean Airlines.

His visit takes place ahead of the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to the Iranian capital and the participation of the GNTO in the Tehran International Tourism Exhibition (TITE) taking place February 16-19.

During his visit to Tehran, Mr Tryfonopoulos will meet his counterpart in Iran as well as other government tourism officials of the country.

Aiming for Greece to attract a share of Iran’s outbound tourism market during the celebration of the Persian New Year (NOWROUZ) on March 21 and the summer holidays, the Greek delegation will hold meetings with entrepreneurs and tour operators of the Iranian tourism market.

According to the GNTO, Iran is of particular interest to Greece.

“The peoples of both countries have deep cultural roots in antiquity and historical references. This, combined with the possibilities of the Iranian tourism market (approximately 5 million Iranians travel abroad during the Persian New Year), creates fertile ground for the development of partnerships, which the leadership of the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism and the GNTO aims to make the best use of“, the GNTO said in an announcement on Friday.

GNTO at FITUR 2016

The GNTO secretary general’s trip to Tehran follows his recent visit to Madrid, Spain, where he accompanied Alternate Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura at the 36th International Tourism Trade Fair FITUR.

During his stay in Madrid, Mr Tryfonopoulos met with UNWTO Secretary General Taleb Rifai and discussed worldwide tourism trends and the features of international tourism demand in 2016.

The two secretary generals discussed Greece’s encouraging performance in the tourism market last year and exchanged views on practices for promoting tourism destinations and new products to further strengthen the flow of tourists to the country in 2016.