spends five times the money spent by ordinary
tourists in the place the conference is held.
This is why Greece is taking a series of measures
in order to turn all its tourist areas ―and not only
Athens― into conference magnets, utilizing the rel-
evant potential.
Greece is already listed among the top-20 most
popular conference destinations; however, it con-
trols only 1.9% of the global conference market,
when a single city, e.g. Vienna, enjoys a market
share of more than 2.5%.
In order to substantially increase Greece’s share
in the international conference market, efforts are
focused ―apart from expediting the construction
of a large conference centre in Athens― on:
•
the coordinated and targeted promotion of the
Greek conference product abroad;
•
upgrading tourist and convention training in
Greece;
•
cutting down of convention-related red tape, and
improving the overall business environment;
•
streamlining the operation of the Athens
Convention Bureau, and establishing similar
bureaus in other major Greek tourist areas;
•
ensuring the peaceful and orderly promotion of
social demands in the centre of Athens, which will
deprive our competitors of all opportunities for
defaming Greece abroad as a tourist destination.
b. Culinary tourism
In the past few years, a new special form of
tourism is being developed worldwide, slowly
starting to draw the attention of Greek hoteliers.
Culinary, or gastronomic, tourism ―which is con-
sidered to be a subcategory of cultural tourism,
since gastronomy is a cultural expression―
refers to the systematic and organized provision
of services to travellers who wish to live gastro-
Trade with Greece
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