Tapping into Wellness Tourism Next Priority for Greece

GNTO President Angela Gerekou speaking during the event. Photo source: Visit Greece.

Tapping into health and wellness tourism and taking actions to attract investments in that direction is key to diversifying the Greek tourism product on offer, said Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) President Angela Gerekou during this week’s Global Wellness Economy Forum held in Athens.

Organized jointly by the Greek Health Tourism Council Elitour, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Enterprise Greece, the tourism and health ministries and the Attica Region, the forum focused on available investment opportunities in Greece for the development of hospitality structures that will offer health and wellness services.

“Greece has all the conditions to become a leading health and wellness destination and a hub for related investments, while the Attica Region meets all the requirements to evolve into a global medical tourism hub all year round,” said Gerekou.

Loutra Pozar, a modern spa health resort in Northern Greece.

In this direction, Gerekou underlined the importance of public-private partnerships which have helped so far to rebrand the country into a premium, safe, multi-island destination. Combined with wellness and health offerings, Greece can benefit from the thriving tourism segment which she said was growing at a rate of 20-30 percent annually.

The head of the country’s tourism board went on to express her confidence that the international community would vote for Greece as destination catering to travelers’ well-being but also as a separate health destination. Greece, she said, can evolve into the global center of holistic healing and rejuvenation, a global center of authentic well-being.

Gerekou lastly pledged the GNTO’s support through promotional actions as well as via a digital map which identifies health and wellness experiences across Greece.