
Athens, 14.12.2020
PRESS RELEASE
The 1rst Virtual Workshop of Alternative Tourism and Gastronomy – Poland has been successfully completed on December 10th, by Tourism Media & Events. Despite the COVID-19 conditions, during the event, about 697 business meetings have been held between representatives of the local market with both with Greek tourism businesses and destinations, and Greek food & beverage export companies.
The interest for the touristic season of 2021, as illustrated by the participations and appointments, was extremely high. The Polish travel agents have mostly praised new travel destinations of Greece, thus marking a positive start for a touristic 2021. A wide majority of them has noted the limitless opportunities of the Greek thematic tourism alternatives which include hiking, climbing and sports tourism. The interest of dozens of Polish retailers and importers remains high, as more and more wish to get in touch with Greek companies in the food and beverage industry, which arise as potential ambassadors of Greek tourism via the path of gastronomy.
In particular, on the Polish part, 72 travel agents, 12 distinguished media and 24 importers of Greek products participated. On the Greek side, 31 tourist destinations and businesses and 17 companies in the food and beverage industry participated.
The main Sponsor of the event was the Greek Tourism Organization.
Official airline sponsor was Aegean Airlines, and other sponsors include: the Region of Central Greece, the Regional Development Fund of Central Macedonia, and the “Greek Breakfast” of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, the Municipality of Karystos and the Municipality of Preveza.
At the beginning of the event, a webinar was held with presentations of destinations and gastronomic products of Greece to representatives of distinguished and specialized local media in Poland,so as to ensure the maximum publicity of the event. The event was honored by the presence of the Ambassador of Greece in Poland, Mr. Michael Efstratios Daratzikis, the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Harris Theocharis, and the Deputy Regional Minister of Tourism & Culture of the Region of Central Greece, Mr. Ilias Bourmas.
Presentations were held by the Director of EOT in Warsaw, Ms. Nikoletta Nikolopoulou Mr. Sotiris Batos, Deputy Regional Minister of Agriculture of the Region of Central Macedonia, Mr. Dimitris Paschalidis, Head of the Directorate of Tourism, Sports and Culture, Lifelong Learning and Employment of the Region of Dodecanese, Ms. Marianna Liaskou from the Office of Tourism and Culture of the Region of Central Greece, Ms. Malgorzata Bednarska, Sales Director AEGEAN AIRLINES in Poland and Professor Nikolas Zourou, President of the global network of geoparks.
The event was completed on Thursday 10.12.2020 with a live raffle draw, where 32 gifts from destinations and businesses were offered to Polish travel agents, giving them the opportunity to visit Greece and seal their partnerships with the Greek participants.