GNTO Supports Promotion of Over 200 Greek Tourism Businesses in Virtual Expos

A total of 209 Greek tourism enterprises in 2020 had the opportunity to participate in leading international virtual tourism fairs with the support and funding of the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO).

The GNTO coordinated the scheme and covered the cost of their participation that reached 546,000 euros.

“Amid these difficult economic conditions, we decided to support Greek businesses and finance their participation. In a changing new environment, the GNTO remains true to its goal to effectively promote Greek tourism abroad, and support Greek businesses,” the organization’s Secretary General Dimitris Fragakis said.

The Greek companies participated in the following virtual exhibitions:

• Luxperience in Sydney
• World Travel Market (WTM) in London
• International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) in Cannes and
• Incentives Business Travel and Meetings – IBTM World in Barcelona

The exhibitions took place in the last semester of 2020 and offered the opportunity to Greek companies to stay in touch with international markets, conduct B2B meetings and strengthen Greece’s presence abroad.

The application and selection process took place online. Moreover, the GNTO launched a pilot system offering the chance to participants to evaluate the fairs through digital questionnaires.

“That was one more collaboration with the private sector that contributed to the promotion of Greece’s advantages, in view of the crucial 2021 season for the recovery of its tourism sector,” Dimitris Fragakis added.

The organization is developing a similar program to support Greek tourism startups in 2021.

The GNTO’s secretary general recently announced that the GNTO will host the Greek tourism startups that stood out in the CapsuleT hospitality accelerator program, at its virtual stand at the ITB Berlin 2021 virtual international tourism exhibition in March.