Greek Travel Show: TIF-Helexpo to Stage New Tourism Expo in Athens

TIF-Helexpo’s Andreas Daroudis, director of exhibitions; Anastasios Tzikas, president; Alexandros Tsaxirlis, deputy director general; and Katerina Traptsioni, exhibitions department.

By Nikos Krinis

Greece’s national exhibition body TIF-Helexpo has announced that a new tourism expo will open in Athens in May 2017.

The new tourism exhibition “Greek Travel Show (Greek Holidays)”, scheduled to take place May 19-27 at the Helexpo Maroussi exhibition and conference centre, will be a B2C (Business to Consumer) event.

Speaking to journalists in Athens on Thursday, TIF-Helexpo president, Anastasios Tzikas, said that the new expo falls under plans to further develop actions in the Athens exhibition market.

“We place great emphasis on Athens and will try to upgrade our exhibition presence in the Greek capital”, Tzikas said.

Helexpo Maroussi.

The Greek Travel Show, which will have no entrance fee, will give tourism businesses the opportunity to showcase their products and services, inform potential travelers on travel packages and offers shortly before the start of the summer holiday season and achieve direct sales.

Aiming to give a showing of the whole country’s tourism offerings, TIF-Helexpo is aiming for all 13 Greek regions to participate in the new exhibition.

“This is an exhibition that the country needs and that Greeks, who are planning their summer vacations, need”, Tzikas said.

Moreover, the Greek Travel Show will be accompanied by a rich program of parallel events that will include cultural actions, events focused on Greek traditions and local gastronomy, tourism marketing seminars and destination presentations to journalists and bloggers. Besides receiving information on destinations, visitors will also have the chance to win free tickets, trips, hotel vouchers and more.

“This will be the most interactive exhibition we have ever organized because there will be many events and happenings, which will run in parallel and create a very special atmosphere”, Tzikas added.

Exhibitors of the first Greek Travel Show will include travel agencies, hotels, municipalities, regions, airline and shipping companies, sectoral publications, tourism schools, camp sites, rent a car enterprises, passenger ship associations, ministries, banks, museums, casinos, spas, ski resorts, tourist guide associations and online booking companies.

The announcement of the Greek Travel Show took place while TIF-Helexpo is getting ready to open the doors of the 32nd Philoxenia trade show in Thessaloniki (November 18-20), held together with the Hotelia international hotel equipment expo.

This year’s Philoxenia, which is expected to see a 15 to 20 percent increase in visitors, will see the participation of renowned companies, hotels, travel agencies and the 13 regions of Greece. The highlight of the exhibition is the exhibition’s hosted buyers program, which will see the participation of 120 distinguished tourism professionals from abroad. During the exhibition, the “[Re] Branding Destinations: Image Making” international tourism conference will take place to provide insight to professionals on how to develop branding strategy techniques in order for destinations to be promoted properly to gain the tourism value they deserve.