Trade Associations

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras concluded his five-day official visit to China on Sunday, 19 May, during which the Chinese side expressed a strong interest for projects that involve infrastructure, privatization and real estate in Greece.

Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni made Chinese officials in Beijing very happy last week when she presented a Chinese version of an innovative smartphone application geared to promote the Greek capital as a destination.

Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni will visit China once again this fall by invitation of the chairman of China’s National Tourism Administration, Shao Qiwei.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras today, 16 May, invited Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in Greece and become part of the “Greek success story.”

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras departed to China yesterday, 15 May, accompanied by some 50 Greek entrepreneurs in an effort to lay the groundwork to draw future investments and seal deals in the tourism and agricultural sectors.

“This is an isolated incident and should not disturb the sense of security felt by travelers in our country,” the Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies (HATTA) said in an announcement on 15 May in regards to the stabbing of an 11-year-old Russian tourist in Iraklio, Crete.

The Greek Tourism Ministry and the Ministry of Public Order will hold a series of meetings with regional and local authorities that will involve safety issues in order to best prepare for the country’s peak tourism season.

“Greece may attract more than the expected 17 million arrivals this year,” Minister of Macedonia-Thrace Theodoros Karaoglou said today, 13 May, while speaking at the tourism conference held by the Chamber of Xanthi in the northeastern Greek city.

The Greek Government is aiming to abandon the current model of “mass tourism” by adding high standards of quality to the country’s tourism package through the new Special Zoning Plan for Tourism that is currently under preparation by the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change in cooperation with the Tourism Ministry.

Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni has invited Greece’s prefects to participate in the national branding of the country through a common tourism strategy.