French tour operators are currently showing special interest in traveling all year round to Greece, discovering the different forms of alternative tourism in Greece. At the same time, the representatives of French tourism and the French importers and wholesalers saw the dynamics of Greek gastronomy through their meetings with Greek exporters in the F&B field.
The above finding is the aftermath of the 1st Virtual Greek Alternative Tourism & Gastronomy Workshop in France, which was completed on Thursday, April 15.
The event featured 817 B2B meetings and was attended by 77 travel agents, journalists, as well as 48 companies, French importers, and wholesalers coming from the food and beverage sector.
This workshop of Tourism Media & Events is part of a course of events following those of Germany and the United Kingdom that took place in March. More events for alternative tourism and gastronomy will follow, with the market of Denmark (April 19-20) and Sweden next December.
The first half of Tourism Media & Events concludes with two workshops on luxury tourism and gastronomy, in Russia (May 12-14) and the United Arab Emirates on May 31.
Interesting for Season 2021
The interest in the tourist season of 2021 was underlined by the high participation in the 1st Virtual Greek Alternative Tourism & Gastronomy Workshop in France. The French agents learned about new Greek products in the tourism sector, showing special attention to the new tourist destinations. The great potential of our country in the field of thematic tourism with a focus on walking, climbing, diving, and sports tourism creates a legacy for a very positive 2022.
The majority of French tour operators and agents estimated that, despite the pandemic conditions, the French want to travel in Fall 2021, marking the extension of the tourist season.
The main Sponsor of the event was the Greek National Tourism Organization.
Honored Region of the event was the Region of South Aegean.
Honored Gastronomic Region of the event was the Region of Crete.
The official Air Carrier Sponsor of the event is AEGEAN AIRLINES, while the Sponsors were the Region of Epirus, the Region of Central Greece, the Municipality of Athens, the New Hotel, and the “Greek Breakfast” of the Hotel Chamber of Greece.
At the beginning of the event last Tuesday, a webinar was held with presentations of destinations and gastronomic products of Greece, not only to travel agents and importers to representatives of large and specialized local media in France, which ensured the maximum publicity of the event.
The event was honored by the presence of the Ambassador of Greece in France, Mrs. Aglaia Balta, the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Haris Theocharis. The Minister referred to the dynamics of the Greek tourism product stating that Greece has come to be a safe travel destination in view of the re-opening of tourism in Greece, on May 14.
Presentations were made by the director of GNTO France, Mrs. Dimitra Voziki, the Deputy Regional Governor of the South Aegean, Mr. Ioannis Margaritis, Mrs. Aspasia Stavroulaki from the Agricultural Partnership of the Region of Crete, the consultant of the Regional Business Support Center, of the Epirus Region, Mrs. Ioulia Markoula, the Deputy Regional Minister of Tourism and Culture of the Region of Central Greece, Mr. Elias Bourma, and Mrs. Marianna Liaskou from the office of the Deputy Regional Minister of Tourism and Culture of the Region of Central Greece.
The new profile of AEGEAN AIRLINES and its flight program in France and Greece was presented by the French Business Development Director of AEGEAN AIRLINES, Mr. Jordane Vergne.
