Niche Markets

Santorini, Chalkidiki, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Paros, Folegandros, Crete and Andros were introduced last month as destinations with ideal hotels for gay and lesbian tourists at this year’s international tourism trade fair FITUR, held in Madrid, Spain.

Homo Evolution’s Nikos Sofianos (marketing director), Giannis Papagiannopoulos (president) and Simon Vasiliadis (project manager) with IGLTA Ambassador to Greece, Orhideea Rosu, at the gay tourism and entrepreneurship conference held recently at the Les Lazaristes hotel in Thessaloniki.

“Thessaloniki is a city that does not discriminate and is friendly to all who wish to visit,” Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris said at a recent conference on gay tourism and entrepreneurship held in the northern Greek city.

The Halkidiki Hotel Association recently organized a four-day fam trip to Chalkidiki and Thessaloniki for gay German journalists in an attempt to approach the gay travel market.

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.

“Gay and lesbian tourists, who for years flocked to the islands of Mykonos and Lesbos, have removed Greece from their list of favorite destinations because of discrimination,” a survey by …

Medical tourism has been a fast growing sector worldwide over the last 15 years and while Greece has potential to compete in the rapidly growing ‘middle market’ of medical tourism, the country lacks a comprehensive national sector growth strategy, according to a recent study by the Mckinsey and Company consulting firm.

Kalymnos, the sponge diver’s island in the Dodekanissos complex, will become the meeting point for free diving fans this month.

“Athens has the potential to become a tourism destination for gay travelers because the city has places for them to go but, for them to stay several days here, advertising promotion by the Culture and Tourism Ministry is required,” the president and managing director of Athens-based Balakakis Incentives and Worldwide Tour Operators, Andreas Balakakis told GTP.

“Athens Rainbow Week could be a magnet for gay tourists abroad with the appropriate exposure and promotion of the event, from both international media and travel agencies/tour operators but we can not say that such a promotional targeted effort has been made,” according to the president of the Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies (HATTA) Giorgos Telonis.