MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions)

“The world’s governments should do more to support travel and tourism,” World Travel Market’s Chairman Fiona Jeffery told the industry during her opening speech at the tourism fair at ExCel in London, UK, held this year 7-10 November.

Although the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises’ (SETE) tenth annual tourism and development conference was slightly overshadowed by Greek political instability and uncertainty last month it will remain in history as a conference first of its kind that took a step further and held a dialogue between the Government and all opposition parties.

“Our coastal transport is shipping but also tourism and the tourism development of our country is based on the tourism development of the islands, which demands good ferry services,” Mihalis Sakellis, the CEO of Blue Star Ferries, said while speaking at the “Shipping Today and Tomorrow” conference held in Athens in late September.

“The coming years could be very exciting for the Greek tourism product as long as the promises of its establishment within the central development policy actually take place,” the president of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, Yiorgos Tsakiris, said recently during the tourism session of the Capital+Vision multi-conference held at Hilton Athens in late September 2011.

Greek tourism will be promoted in Athens this coming spring via the uniqueness of Greece’s natural beauty, significant cultural wealth and deep religious tradition at Nexus, the first International Cultural, Religious and Pilgrimage Tourism Exhibition.

Initiatives for the Greek economy based on consensual approaches and a broader political, social and economic cooperation aimed at a recovery and an exit from the crisis will be analyzed at the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises’ (SETE) 10th tourism and development conference.
The theme of this year’s conference is “Tourism: a national case” and will take place at the Divani Caravel hotel 31 October-1 November.

“Cruise tourism is a key to the government’s overall policy,” Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos said during his opening speech at the first Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum held at the Onassis Cultural Center in Athens on 21-22 June.

The need to promote tourism investment and increase competitiveness in Greece to face the economic crisis was underlined by tourism professionals and experts at the “Tourism Investment Conference: Focus on Greece,” held in Athens last month.

Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos said last month that Greece was interested in attracting visitors from the so-called BRIC countries such as China, India, Russia and Turkey.

Nearly 60 participants from different countries attended the ninth international conference of culture and tourism Yperia 2011 on Amorgos recently and took part in a four-day program filled with excursions, presentations, film projections and discussions.