Greece, Russia to Hold Religious Tourism Conference at Lagonissi

A Greek-Russian Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage Conference will take place on Friday, May 20, at the Grand Resort Lagonissi in East Attica.

The conference has been announced following the agreement made between Greek Alternate Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura and the Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Alla Manilova to enhance tourism cooperation between the two countries to increase mutual tourist flow.

The event follows the recent Greek-Russian tourism forum held earlier this month and is being held within the framework of the ongoing Greece-Russia Cross-year events.

Attendees at the conference will include ministers and heads of tourism and culture of the regions of the Russian Federation, head of Pilgrims Centres, representatives of the Greek Church, the Church of Crete, the Dodecanese Church, the Holy Supervision of Mount Athos and the Patriarchate of Moscow.

Representatives from travel agencies with religious tourism programs will also be attending. The Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR) will be represented by Maya Lomidze, Executive Director.

During the conference, the pilgrimage routes in Greece and Russia will be presented and bilateral discussions will be held to develop cooperation between the tourism sectors of the two countries.

The conference will be opened by Minister Kountoura, the representative of the Holy Synod of the Church of Greece and Secretary of the Synod office of pilgrimage tours Archimandrite Spyridon Katramados and the director of the Department of Tourism and Regional Policy, Ministry of Culture of Russia, Olga Yarilova.

The conference’s program can be found here.