New tourism development minister to redevelop Greece’s tourism agenda, sees high potential in Asia

THESSALONIKI – Greece’s new Minister for Tourism Development, Aris Spiliotopoulos, wants to radically change the image of Greek tourism. “We must get rid of the old “sea and sun” formula and focus more on quality. In a global world, Greece must have a multi-facetted image to become a global brand which can target any type of travellers”, he said during the Philoxenia travel fair held here recently.

Quality tourism for Greece means going through product diversification. Greek tourism experts have chosen nine “strategic tourism sectors” for future development – seaside, nautical, cultural, countryside, touring, health and wellness, meetings, luxury travel and city breaks in Athens and Thessaloniki. “We could also develop religious tourism as well as tailor-made products for senior or disabled visitors. I believe also that agro-tourism and green tourism is an ideal product for the country”, Spiliotopoulos said.

The ministry also plans to turn Thessaloniki into a new golfing destination, develop marinas in the islands and a possible casino in Corfu, and use electronic media as a promotion tool. “We must invest in electronic media as one traveller in three chooses holiday products through the Internet,” Spiliotopoulos said.

Asia is high on Greece’s tourism agenda. Athens is already linked to Singapore via SIA and Bangkok via Thai Airways while Air China is launching twice-weekly flights from Beijing to Athens via Dubai from November 28. The new service comes just as Greece is having a special year in China in 2008. “As Athens hosted the Olympic Games in 2004 just prior to Beijing, Greece generated a lot of interest for Chinese travellers. With Beijing now hosting the Games, we have a great opportunity to promote ourselves. Asia generally generates quality tourism as travellers from the region do not come to Greece only for our “sea+sun” product but also for our culture”, Spiliotopoulos concluded.