Key Issues for Greek Tourism to be Discussed at SETE 2015 Conference

Archive photo of SETE’s 2014 conference.

SETE’s 14th Tourism & Development Conference, which is being held on October 19-20 at the Divani Caravel Hotel in Athens, will bring together the Greek travel industry to explore a series of topics including the extension of the Greek tourism season, the advantages that tourism brings to a local economy and technology trends in the industry.

The theme of the two-day conference is “Tourism: The Ark of Greek Economy”.

On the first day, the conference will focus on global trends and the immediate need for change in Greece’s tourism strategy. The agenda also includes a presentation on the significant results of the strategic cooperation between the public and private sectors in promoting destination Athens. The first day of the conference will conclude with the presentation of a detailed profile of the customers of Greek tourism and how to unite the sector through the education programs of SETE Training.

Speakers include key members from the private and public sectors such as Georges Panayotis (President & CEO, MKG Group), Andreas Gennimatas (Vice President, Athens Development & Destination Management Agency), Alexis Galinos (CEO Athens Development & Destination Management Agency) Iosif Parsalis (General Director, Marketing Greece), Aris Ikkos (Scientific Director, InSETE) and Lia Zabetoglou (Education Director, INSETE).

Greek Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism Giorgos Stathakis will be the keynote speaker at the official dinner to be held at the end of the first day of the conference.

Day 2 will feature the initiative of private tourism stakeholders of Northern Europe, banking developments, the prerequisites for the liquidity and funding of Greek tourism enterprises and the direct priorities that must be implemented to safeguard the competitiveness of the Greek tourism product.

Also, the second day of the conference will include a presentation of the best practices of new technologies and how they can be applied to tourism in the 21st century.

At the end of the conference, the winners of the SETE Tourism Crowdhackathon 2015 will be announced and a session dedicated to the employment opportunities the sector offers through education programs will take place.

Key members of the international and domestic tourism and business scene will attend the second day of SETE’s conference including Yolanda Perdomo (Director of UNWTO Affiliate Members Programme, UN World Tourism Organization), Renzo Iorio (President, Federturismo Confindustria – Italian Association of Travel and Tourism Industry), António Abrantes (General Secretary, CTP – Confederação Do Turismo Português), Michael Panayiotou (Vice-Chairman, STEK / ACTE), Andreas Andreadis (President, SETE), José Luis Zoreda de la Rosa (Chief Executive Officer, EXCELTUR – Alianza para la excelencia turística), Fokion Karavias (CEO, Eurobank Group), Eftichios Vassilakis (Vice Chairman, Aegean Airlines), Vasilis Kafatos (Partner, Head of Strategy & Operations Consulting Services, DELOITTE), Theofilos Kiratsoulis (Senior Director, Toposophy), George Hatzimarkos (Region of South Aegean),  Anastasios – Nikolaos Zorzos (Mayor of Thira), Andreas Birner (Managing Director, Inova Hospitality Management), Antonis Vordonis (CEO, Poseidonion Grand Hotel), George Vernikos (Secretary General, SETE), Antreas Gerakanakis (Enterprise Group Indirect Sales Manager, HP Hellas), Nikos Kambanopoulos (General Director for Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Visa Europe), Dionisis Kolokotsas (Public Policy Manager, GOOGLE Hellas), Ilias Polichronopoulos (Head of Corporate Market, Sales Division, Cyta Hellas), Antonis Tsimboukis (General Director Cisco, Greece, Cyprus, Malta) and Theodoros Farazoglou (Sales Manager – EBT, SAMSUNG Electronics Hellas S.A.), Mihalis Kyriakidis (Project Manager, SETE) and Lia Zabetoglou (Education Director, INSETE).

The “Tourism & Development” conferences are established interventions of SETE to open discussions and create public dialogue on tourism and are aimed towards investors, entrepreneurs, senior business executives and public sector officials who aspire to have an active role in the development of Greek tourism.

For further information about the conference, the agenda and the application form to participate, press here.

GTP is among the main communication sponsors of the conference.