MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions)

The International Tourism Exchange ITB Berlin 2004, which will take place from 12 to 16 March on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds and in the International Congress Center ICC Berlin, represents every aspect of the value-added chain in the international tourism industry.

Visitors to this year’s tourism fair Touristiko Panorama get the first glimpse of “Olympic Greece” and also get the chance to form initial impressions on the tourism dimension of the greatest challenge facing the country in modern times.

If we want the Greek tourism sector to develop at a satisfactory pace, we in the private sector must take it upon ourselves to do so, said speakers at the recent “The Need to Create a Tourism Development Strategy” conference held last month in Athens.

The ITB Travel Technology Congress will take place this year from March 14 to 16 in Hall 7.1b during Germany’s ITB travel fair. The opening event, on Sunday, March 14, will examine the opportunities for an upturn in the travel market in 2004, which could be brought about as a result of structural changes. Among the main issues to be dealt with by this congress is the extent to which the Internet will continue to influence the tourism market. Do opportunities still exist for package tours or will they be replaced by the services offered by low cost carriers? Is “dynamic packaging” the answer to the increasing individualization of travel? When will the traditional travel catalogues finally disappear from travel agents’ shelves?

Greece’s tourism fair Philoxenia 2003, October 30-November 2, arrived and left this year with little fanfare. For the most part, exhibitors simply said that like every other year the exhibition gives us a chance to see some old friends and business acquaintances. But this year, they said it seemed there were fewer exhibitors than last year and much less traffic to the stands.

After last year’s fiasco, the London office of the Hellenic Tourism Organization worked closely with the head office this year. In the end, the office and its staff did a superior job in organizing its Greek presentation at one of the world’s biggest travel and tourism fairs, World Travel Market, held in London from November 10-13.

Philoxenia, the biggest tourism exhibition in Southeast Europe and one of the largest in the Eastern Mediterranean opens October 30 this year and runs till November 2 at the Thessaloniki …

In what is a first for World Travel Market, the premier event for the global travel and tourism industry has joined forces with Airline Business, the industry’s leading boardroom title, …

Some 46 speakers, through case studies, showed how important and viable sports is to a country’s tourism sector during last month’s International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism’s (AIEST) 53rd world congress held at the Divani Apollo Hotel in Kavouri September 8-11 on the theme “Tourism and Sports.” The congress was opened by Development Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos.

The 7th International Symposium of the Organization of World Heritage Cities, which takes place as we go to press, opened on the island of Rodos on September 23 and continues on till the 26th at the Marika Capsis 2000 Confrerence Center within the Sofitel Capsis Hotel complex.