China’s ‘Alitrip’ Comes to Athens to do Business with Greek Tourism Professionals

Some 50 leading Greek tourism enterprises will get informed on the business opportunities available through the Chinese online travel platform Alitrip, during an event to be held on May 26 in Athens. The Alitrip online travel marketplace is a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, a leading e-commerce company in China.

Titled “Alitrip in Greece: Enhancing incoming tourism from China to Greece” the event will be held upon the initiative of the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen and the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

During the event, Alitrip’s vice president, responsible for European Markets, Kai Cui, will present the platform’s main objectives and cooperation opportunities to representatives of Greek hotels, travel agencies, chambers and associations. Alitrip’s service providers will also give information on the platform’s operation and cost.

Prior to the event, Alitrip’s representatives will meet with Greek government officials.

“Taking into consideration that Alibaba’s data base consists of more than 500 million Chinese users and that alitrip.com is among the leading tourism platforms in China, the common goal of attracting 1,000,000 Chinese tourists annually for the next three years is feasible,” the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen said in an announcement. Furthermore, the Chamber notes that the Chinese are considered among the tourists with the highest expenditure rates per trip.

Alitrip’s activities in Greece were launched in 2016, following a meeting of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Alibaba Founder and Chairman Jack Ma in China. Alibaba’s goals in regards to the Greek market were then presented in Athens in September 2016, during an event organized by the Athens Chamber of Tradesmen.

Founded in 1999, Alibaba is a Chinese e-commerce company active in consumer-to-consumer, business-to-consumer and business-to-business sales services via web portals. It also includes electronic payment services, a shopping search engine and data-centric cloud computing services.