Greek Travel Agents Talk Business with Egyptian Professionals

Greek Alternate Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura (center), Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) Secretary General Dimitris Tryfonopoulos (left), fedHATTA President Lysandros Tsilidis (top, center) and fedHATTA members during the first Greek-Egyptian Tourism Forum in Cairo.

Egyptian tourism professionals expressed a strong interest in doing business with Greek travel agencies during a series of B2B meetings held on the sidelines of the first Greek-Egyptian Tourism Forum that took place last week in Cairo.

Members of the Federation of Hellenic Associations of Tourist & Travel Agencies (fedHATTA) were part of the delegation that accompanied Alternate Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura during her visit to Egypt to attend the forum, which aimed to boost tourism cooperation between the two countries.

The first Greek-Egyptian Tourism Forum took place following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Alternate Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura and her Egyptian counterpart in February.

During the forum, fedHATTA’s president, Lysandros Tsilidis, presented the federation’s tourism action plan “Dodeka” and gave over 12 reasons why Egyptian professionals should team up with Greek travel agents.

The Dodeka (which translates into “twelve”) action plan is an innovative initiative of Greece’s travel agents, which aims to enrich the country’s tourist product and extend the tourism season through thematic and special interest activities, as well as through the promotion of lesser known destinations.

Mr Tsilidis presented the action’s 12 main sections — Active Tour, ARTtour, Authentic Tradition Tour, Cult Tour, DayNight Tour, Food & Wine Tour, Greece NAtour, Green Greece, Meeting Greece, Pilgrimage Tour, Plefsis Tour and Wellness Tour — and gave Egyptian professionals ideas for creating travel packages in Greece.

Europe accounts for 72 percent of Egypt’s annual tourism to Egypt, according to the Egyptian tourism ministry.