Halkidiki Woos UK Delegates During ITT 2024 Conference

Marketing manager of the HTO, Tania Akritidou; the Vice President of the Halkidiki Hotel Association, Yiannis Laspas; Halkidiki Deputy Regional Governor for Central Macedonia, Katerina Zografou; Director of the HTO, Giorgos Broutzas; President of the HTO, Grigoris Tassios; Head of the GNTO branch of the United Kingdom & Ireland, Eleni Skarveli; representative of the Region of Central Macedonia, Maria Plastara; Celine Spataro; SK Hospitality and the owner of Kassandra Palace, Nikos Athanasopoulos.

Tourism trends and challenges, utilizing AI technologies in travel, climate crisis management, and identifying skill needs and talent were the focus of the Institute of Travel & Tourism (ITT) Conference held at the Porto Carras Grand Resort in Halkidiki last week.

The ITT Conference, held 26 years ago in Athens and for the first time in Halkidiki, brought together some 270 travel and tourism professionals, academics, government officials, and media representatives who exchanged knowhow and best practices and had the chance to network.

Officials and tourism professionals at the ITT Conference.

“The ITT Conference, a leading travel and tourism event, demonstrates that Greece is a pioneer and can shape developments in tourism. The UK is a top source market for Greece. The conference held in Greece reflects among others, the market confidence,” said Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) Secretary General Dimitris Fragakis.

In addition to the conference sessions, participants had the chance to choose from a range of trips and experiences in Thessaloniki and Halkidiki, which included wine and olive oil tastings as well as an introduction to local cuisines.

Participants tasting local cuisine.

ITT was organized by the GNTO United Kingdom & Ireland branch in collaboration with the Halkidiki Tourism Organization (HTO) as part of efforts to promote the region to the UK market.

In this direction, the HTO participated in the World Travel Market in London last year. Tourism stakeholders are forecasting an increase in arrivals this from the UK year, with pre-bookings for 2024 up by 18 percent over the same period a year earlier.