A sharp rise in tourism arrivals from the Balkan market to Greece is expected in 2023. According to industry experts, road arrivals are anticipated to increase by more than 40% compared to 2022, primarily from Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria.

This positive trend was further confirmed by the Road Show organized by Tourism Media & Events across the three previously mentioned countries, where demand for Greece as a travel destination proved remarkably strong.

At the same time, there was clear intent to expand both scheduled and charter flights from Romania and Serbia to various destinations in Greece.

The first stop of the “Road Show” | Greek Tourism Workshop by Tourism Media & Events took place in Belgrade on January 26, featuring the Region of Eastern Macedonia & Thrace as the honored region. Fifteen Greek tourism enterprises participated, holding more than 310 B2B meetings with leading tour operators and travel agents from Belgrade.

On January 25, a press dinner was held to promote Greece as a destination. The event was attended and addressed by H.E. Ms. Maria Levanti, Ambassador of Greece to Serbia; Mr. Aleksandar Senicic, Director of the Serbian Association of Travel Agents; Mr. Miodrag Popovic, CEO and General Director of the Belgrade Tourism Organization; and Mr. Athanasios Tsonis, Deputy Regional Governor of Eastern Macedonia & Thrace.

The “Road Show” then continued to Romania, specifically Bucharest, on January 31. Forty-two Romanian travel agents and tour operators engaged in productive meetings with thirteen Greek participants, including the Region of Eastern Macedonia & Thrace and tourism businesses from a range of Greek destinations.

A total of around 320 meetings took place, while on the previous evening, a press dinner was held to further showcase Greek tourism offerings. Greetings were delivered by H.E. Ms. Sofia Grammata, Ambassador of Greece to Romania, and Mr. Giorgos Stafylakis, Director of the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) in Romania.

The final stop of the TME Greek Tourism Workshop in the Balkans was in Bulgaria, where 19 Greek representatives joined the event in Sofia on February 6. Participants included the Regions of Central Greece and Eastern Macedonia & Thrace.

More than 410 meetings were conducted, yielding highly promising results for Greece.

The event was attended and addressed by Mr. Dimitris Michas, Head of the Economic & Commercial Affairs Office at the Embassy of Greece in Sofia; Mr. Georgi Alipiev, representative of Bulgaria’s Ministry of Tourism; Ms. Dimitrina Goranova, President of the Association of Bulgarian Tour Operators & Travel Agents (ABTTA); Mr. Athanasios Tsonis, Deputy Regional Governor of Eastern Macedonia & Thrace; and Ms. Marianna Liaskou, Deputy Head of the Tourism Department of the Region of Central Greece.

The Greek Luxury Tourism & Gastronomy Workshop, organized by Tourism Media & Events, is set to take place tomorrow, Wednesday, April 18, with its focus on one of the most promising sources of high-income travelers for Greek tourism — Qatar.

The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) is the main sponsor of this Luxury Tourism & Gastronomy Workshop, which will feature Greek destinations and tourism businesses aiming to establish or further strengthen their presence in the Qatari market.

The event is held under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, with the Region of Central Macedonia as the honored region. Sponsors include MIDEAST Travel Group, the “Greek Breakfast” initiative of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, and the Municipality of Rethymno.

The Workshop’s goal, among others, is to position Greece as a premier high-end tourism destination on the international map, following the methodology applied across all Luxury events organized by Tourism Media & Events.

Attracting tourists from Middle Eastern countries is of high strategic importance for Greece, as these travelers possess strong spending power and are willing to invest significant amounts in their holidays — a factor that directly supports the recovery and ongoing growth of Greek tourism’s key metrics.

As part of the Workshop, Business-to-Business (B2B) meetings have already been scheduled between representatives from Greece and Qatar engaged in luxury tourism. The event will take place at the City Center Rotana, in downtown Doha.

In addition to the B2B sessions, destination and organization presentations will be held, providing participants further networking opportunities during the cocktail reception following the meetings.

Upcoming events to promote Greek luxury tourism will be held in person in Amsterdam in October 2022 and in the USA from November 14–16, 2022. An additional event for the promotion of general Greek tourism is planned for early December 2022 in Warsaw.