The Business End
IN RECENT YEARS Athens has well and truly been put on the map as one of the most exciting cities in Europe to visit, with thanks to the strategy put in place by the City of Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Alexis Galinos, Managing Director at Athens Development and Destination Management Agency explains: “Our strategy to actively promote the local conference infrastructure, our competitive conference infrastructure, facilities and the hospitality sector boom have all aided our city in its development.”
During the past year, Athens has created a far more dynamic strategy to enable itself to bid for new conferences that better showcase its competitive infrastructure and economic perspective, subsequently enabling the city to promote its many advantages.
Galinos adds: “We have been working on a series of collaborations and partnerships with large tourism stakeholders such as ASTA in order to ensure we are consistently building our international standing.” More recently Athens has become firmly established as the top meeting destination in Greece, while also climbing into ICCA’S top 25 most popular meeting destinations worldwide. This rise can largely be attributed to the city’s highly qualified professionals working in the various fields of the tourism industry, and in particular business. For the past five years, the Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau has organised the signature annual trade event for the City of Athens, Travel Trade Athens in cooperation with the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA). This event has provided the region with a unique opportunity to develop first- hand business relationships with leading tourism suppliers in Athens, enabling them to discover new products and experiences. It is through events such as these that Athens is becoming such a recognisable hub of activity for networking, while also offering an authentic city experience like no other.