People

The Philoxenia fair as an institution has been fully established in the psyche of every sector of our country’s tourism industry.

Philoxenia is now an institution tied to the tourism history of Greece. It consists of a tourism fair that brings Greek tourism business people together and gives the country’s regional areas an opportunity to promote their tourism destinations, most of which present still hidden and unutilized tourism opportunities.

This year’s Philoxenia comes at a very critical moment for Greek tourism. After a long quality crisis period, and difficulties due to problems outside the country’s borders, Greek tourism has been called upon to show a new image, to become more competitive and to assist in the social and economic development of this country.

The Greek Hotel Chamber believes in and supports Philoxenia for the simple reason that the tourism fair’s promotion of the Greek tourism product is nothing less than positive.

Philoxenia, for years now, consists of one of the most important institutions for our tourism. This importance has been steadily strengthened in the conscience of all sectors of the tourism industry. The fair has become a fertile plain where all professionals of the trade have the opportunity to meet one another, to exchange positive experiences, and to ‘meet’ with the public and the users of their services. In short, Philoxenia links and displays all the powers of modern tourism Greece on a full scale.

With the opportunity of 25 years of Greek Travel Pages circulation, which coincides with this year’s Philoxenia, I would like to stress GTP’s contribution to the information sector, and particularly its useful character for tourism consumers.

Philoxenia this year takes place within a period characterized by the internationalization of markets, the increase in travel movement, and the startling developments in technology. All this leads to the intensification of competition among tourism enterprises, which in turn hastens their efforts to hold on to and improve upon their positions in the tourism sector.

Besides revitalizing its executive management in Greece, KLM and its partner Northwest Airlines have created what they call their new World Business Class. The idea behind the new class is to offer better services and roomier and more comfortable seats for their clients. They also get their own seat video.

One of the first moves by the newly-elected president of the Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourism Agents (HATTA), Yiannis Evangelou, was to call the trade press corps to a working breakfast. The new president wanted to outline his plans for the association.

Never in its 70 years of history did the Hellenic Association of Travel & Tourism Agents (HATTA) see so many members attend a general assembly as it did last month. Reasons for the strong interest varied.