MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions)

Athens citizens had the opportunity to better plan their summer vacation among a vast variety of top Greek destinations last month at the 5th Summer Holidays Expo international fair held at the Helexpo Palace exhibition center in Marousi, Athens.

The unique interactive exhibition center “Navarino Natura Hall by Hellenic Postbank” in Costa Navarino was officially presented in Athens last month.

“The organization of this year’s Summer Holidays Expo in Athens aims to play a catalytic role in strengthening the tourism industry and become a meeting point for the Greek family during the period of summer vacation planning,” Helexpo’s president Paris Mavridis said last month during a press conference at the Helexpo Palace exhibition center in Marousi, Athens.

Business deals worth over six billion euros were made at this year’s ITB among 11,163 exhibiting companies and organizations from 188 countries (2010: 11,127 companies from 187 countries) that presented tourism products and the latest travel trends. The travel trade show counted some 170,000 visitors, of which 40 percent were international buyers and 7,000 were accredited journalists from 94 countries.

After four consecutive annual events in Thessaloniki, Helexpo will hold this year’s Summer Holidays Expo international fair for the first time in the Greek capital 20-22 May at the Helexpo Palace exhibition center in Marousi, Athens.

The importance of the food experience for the traveler was focused on at the seventh International Meetings and Incentives Conference (IMIC), which took place last month at the Megaron Athens International Conference Center.

The “E-Tourism & Travel Distribution in Southern Europe & Mediterranean” conference was the first of its kind in Athens and attracted renowned names from the e-travel world and presented the current challenges and trends in the travel market.

European Expo will host the first International Cultural, Religious and Pilgrimage Tourism Exhibition from 31 March to 3 April in Athens. The four-day tourism exhibition will focus on religious, cultural and historical treasures.

The year 2011 will find Greek tourism with improved arrivals and overnights and also an increase in revenue, Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister George Nikitiadis said at the 3rd European Tourism Conference in late November 2011 in Thessaloniki.

The development of diving tourism is one of the top priorities of the Culture and Tourism Ministry within the framework of promoting alternative forms of tourism, Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister George Nikitiadis said at the “Biodiversity and Diving Tourism in the Greek Seas” conference held in Athens in late November.