ATHENS INTERNATIONAL TOURISM & CULTURE EXPO 2019

The 6th AIT Expo was held with great success getting very best comments from Visitors, Exhibitors and Hosted Buyers s.

The opening of the exhibition was made by the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Haris Theocharis, with the participation of the President of  GNTO (GREEK NATIONAL TOURISM ORGANIZATION)   Mrs. Angela Gerekou, the GNTO  General Secretary Mr. Dimitris Frangakis and Attiki Regional Governor Mr. G. Patoulis.

The Exhibition was attended by 260 Exhibitors from Greece and 10 other countries ( China, India, Serbia, Egypt, Germany, Bulgaria, Morocco, Malaysia, Cyprus, Israel ) and the professional visitors exceeded 5.200. The majority of visitors came from the sectors of accommodation, travel agencies, MICE & DMC, Yachting and Greek gastronomy.

The 8,000 B2B meetings between Exhibitors and 150 Hosted Buyers from 50 countries were also a very big success.

The Minister of Tourism during the inauguration said that “the exhibition is a first-class opportunity for exchanging idias and concluding agreements between tourism professionals, Hosted Buyers, exhibitors and visitors, to create combinable holiday packages. The importance of these contacts is increasing as professionals, bodies and organizations from abroad, are participating in the exhibition for the first time this year “.

Mrs Gerekou in her speech said “that tourism fairs in Greece are being strengthened, and spoke of new steps by GNTO in the field of visibility, highlighting new destinations and aiming at sustainable tourism, with respect to the environment.”

A very special moment at the inauguration was the award by the GNTO President Mrs. Gerekou of the Excellence Award to IEK DELTA and the students of the School Of Tourism & Culinary Arts for supporting the organization of the 6th International Tourism Fair and the staffing of all sections. .

Almost all Hosted Buyers, at the end of the process, were very satisfied with expo’s results and the cooperation opportunities offered by the Exhibitors. A large proportion did not believe that they would enter into serious commercial agreements with many Exhibitors.

With excellent results and dozens of professional attendees from all sectors of tourism, the FORUMs on upcoming trends and developments in tourism were also held.

Forum for TOURISM OFFICES moderated by Journalist Yiannis Yiannakakis (tornos news.gr). Participants’ interest was monopolized by Speakers with a deep knowledge of the tourism industry: Mr. Apostolos Boladan / Google Experimenter / Google Expert. , Mr. Konstantinos Papayannopoulos / GetYourGuide, Ms. Maria Aivaliotis / Travelotopos, Mr. Giorgos Boudounis / OneTourismo and Mr. Vassilis Ganas / Netsemantics.

The Forum on Thermal Tourism, the investment prospects of Thermal Tourism in Greece and the prospects for its development were the main axis around which the speeches of Mr. Marko Dana / Secretary General of the Therapeutic Municipalities Association, Gregory Champani / Member of the Board of Directors of EOPY, Petros Luberidis / President of the Panhellenic Association of Physiotherapists and Stergios Karamanlis / Biactive.gr.

Forum for Greek hotels and the MICE industry. Of particular interest were presentations by speakers from Greece and abroad, such as Ms Eliza Tsolakou / Athens Convention Bureau, Stephan Merkenhof / GBR Consulting, Pantazi Pastra / Toposophy, Ms Hilda Alysandratou / Enterprise Greece Mr Reinhard Gangelmayer / GIATA, Mr Daniel Slobodskoy / Booking Analytics, Mr Nikos Pitsoulis / Bee Group, Mrs Lisa Adams / Helms Briscoe, Mr Jan Imberi / Tamtchik Media and Mr Nikos Tsami / Eventora. They all analyzed a number of topics of great interest both to the course of Convention tourism and to investment in tourism, the New Generation of tourists  persecutors and their habits, destination selection criteria for organizing events, etc.

Open Kitchen Live Cooking

Hosted Buyers enjoyed both Greek hospitality and Greek gastronomy that really took off from the IEK DELTA Chef-Teachers and Students who edited their Lunch Breaks.

Greek cuisine and countless Greek PDO products were the main pillars on which IEK DELTA’s Teachers and Students relied on to inspire and create a Special Greek Brunch with top dishes and imaginative creations that take off Greek gastronomy.

All participants had the opportunity to watch the creative process of the meal preparation live and enjoy the unique flavors.

Among other things, we tried unique recipes such as crispy slice on a rustic leaf with a spoonful of sweet tomato, carnaroli black rice with orange flavored cream, strapaccio eggs with cream and roe, truffle eggs and sautéed zucchini with sausage roe.

Open Kitchen Live Cooking accompanied IEK DELTA’s Open Bar with Mr. Hadjiantoniou, available to everyone, with imaginative suggestions from Greek premium alcoholic products. Visitors had the opportunity to watch preparations such as pearl strawberry liqueur in the form of pearls, Eggnog, egg-based drink, sweet spices and METAXA. Finally, with the help of dry ice we enjoyed the flavors of the various drinks presented.

The Exhibition was held under the auspices of: MINISTRY OF TOURISM, MINISTRY OF SHIPPING AND ISLAND POLICY, GNTO, ATTICA AND ARGOSARONIKI HOTEL UNION, At the same time it was supported by GNTO and ENTERPRISE GREECE.

ORGANIZATION: LEADERTECH- Vassileos Georgiou 3, 15122 Maroussi, Athens-Greece  tel. +30-210-6141164, info@leaderexpo.gr, www.aite.gr