MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions)

Following the success of the Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum in 2011, the second forum to be held next year will widen the scope to address a greater range of marine tourism development issues.

For the eighth consecutive year, the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) will sponsor the World Travel Market (WTM) International Press Center during this year’s trade fair 5-8 November 2012 at Excel London.

ARTION Conferences and Events, based in Thessaloniki, Greece, is included among the four finalists for the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Best Marketing Award.

Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni will depart for the U.S. tomorrow to participate in the 1st Greek Investment Forum scheduled to take place 9-11October at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York City, the Tourism Ministry announced today.

The economic crisis has led to a decision to postpone this year’s 44th Xenia Exhibition that was scheduled to take place 30 November-3 December 2012 in Athens.

Chalkidiki will take part in the Greece Getting Greener (3G) promotional campaign designed for Greek hotels, accredited by the Green Key eco label program for 2012, and tour seven European countries to promote its “green” profile.

The Heraklion Port was the center of attention during the 1st Corfu Cruise Conference “The Cruise Industry and Local Communities” that took place last weekend, 28-29 September, on Corfu.

The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) will soon conduct a comprehensive study on the characteristics of Greek tourism and focus on necessary changes to the sector’s policy, according to the GNTO’s secretary general, Nikos Karahalios. Such a study has not taken place for the last 10 years.

The Greek chapter of the International Federation for IT in Travel and Tourism (IFITT) is organizing a workshop on new technologies and their catalytic effect on tourism entitled “Innovative Technologies for the Tourism Industry – Technology as a tool for development and dealing with the economic crisis.”

Greece seems to be focusing more and more on attracting Russian tourists and prospects are positive since arrivals from Russia are expected to exceed one million this year as it was announced at the Greek-Russian tourism forum “Chartering the Future” held 3-4 September on Crete. The Greek-Russian chamber of commerce organized the forum.