Greece Sees ‘Impressive’ 43.2% Increase of Tourists from Spain in 2018

Photo source: Visit Greece / Y. Skoulas

Plans announced for Greece to open GNTO office in Madrid

The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) on Wednesday said that Greece in 2018 saw an “impressive” rise in arrivals from Spain by 43.2 percent to 255,883, compared to 2017, and that a further increase is expected in this year.

Photo source: ifema.es

The announcement followed the GNTO’s participation in the 39th Fitur International Tourism Trade Fair, a global meeting point for tourism professionals and the leading exhibition for the Latin American market, held in Madrid, Spain, during January 23-27.

Greece was represented at Fitur 2019 by the GNTO which participated with a stand of 21 Greek co-exhibitors – a record number for the fair – and promoted to the Spanish tourism market by Greek Secretary General for Tourism Policy and Development Yiorgos Tziallas.

The Greek secretary general, together with the head of the France’s GNTO branch, Dimitra Voziki, held meetings with leading travel groups and airlines and discussed the positive prospects for the further increase of tourists from Spain to Greece through the strengthening of travel packages and addition of more flights between the two countries.

Tziallas also met with the World Tourism Organization Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili and discussed the strengthening of Greece’s role in the global tourism environment and focused on the positions of Greece in shaping development policies in tourism as a member of the UNWTO’s executive board.

King Felipe VI of Spain, UNWTO Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili and Greek Secretary General for Tourism Policy and Development George Tziallas, during the FITUR 2019 opening ceremony.

He also met with the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) President Gloria Guevara Manzo; the tourism ministers of Argentina, Gustavo Santos; Bulgaria, Nikolina Angelkova; and Morocco, Mohammed Sajid; and Croatian Ministry’s Secretary General of Tourism, Frano Matušić, aiming for closer cooperations.

Moreover, Tziallas spoke about Greece’s investment prospects and the increased interest shown by Spanish groups for investment opportunities in the country’s tourism market, with the Spanish-Greek Chamber of Commerce’s chairman, Andreas Pappas, and director, Miriam Rodriguez-Ruiz.

GNTO office to open in Madrid

Aiming to secure stronger promotion of Greece in the Spanish market, the Tourism Ministry has decided to open a GNTO branch in Madrid to focus on the markets of Spain, Portugal and South America.

According to an announcement by the ministry, the new GNTO branch will aim to support the outreach of Greek tourism and attract new tourist flows from those markets.