ITB 2017: Strong Demand for Travel from Germany to Greece

Bookings for travel packages to Greece are recording an increase of some 70 percent this year compared to 2016, the president of the German Travel Association (DRV), Norbert Fiebig, stated on the first day of the ITB Berlin trade show on Wednesday.

Visiting Berlin on the occasion of the ITB exhibition, Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura held meetings with representatives of leading tour operators, including TUI and Thomas Cook, and was informed that demand for Greece for travel in 2017 has increased by 30% – 70%.

On the first day of ITB, Kountoura and the Greek National Tourism Organization‘s general secretary, Dimitris Tryfonopoulos, conducted back to back meetings with leading German tour operators and travel agencies to boost travel packages and flight plans to Greece, further extend the tourism season, promote new Greek destinations and thematic tourism products and develop inbound tourism.

Moreover, at ITB Berlin Kountoura participated in the 7th UNWTO Silk Road Ministers Meeting, which focused on how to foster sustainable tourism development along the Silk Road. Held within the framework of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017, 31 countries from the Silk Road and beyond exchanged best-practices on how to advance the contribution of tourism to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As announced by the Greek tourism minister, on April 26-27, Alexandroupolis will host the first international Western Silk Road Workshop under the UNWTO initiative and the EU program “Western Silk Road”. The workshop will be co-organized by the Tourism Ministry and the Region Eastern Macedonia and Thrace.