Greece’s Alternative Tourism Choices Draw Attention at Matka 2017 Expo

Alternate Director of GNTO in Scandinavia Pavlos Mourmas, Ambassador of Greece in Finland Dimitris Karabalis, GNTO Secretary General Dimitris Tryfonopoulos and Consul of Greece in Helsinki Konstantina Kamitsi.

The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) stand attracted a large crowd at the Matka Nordic Travel Fair that ran January 19-22 at Messukeskus, the Helsinki Exhibition and Convention Centre, in Finland.

According to the GNTO, visitors to the stand were particularly interested in travel to Greek destinations where they can experience alternative tourism activities such as trekking and sailing. Exhibitors at the Greek stand included the Region of Crete and the Regional Union of Chania.

GNTO Secretary General Dimitris Tryfonopoulos and Federation of the Finnish-Greek Associations President Yrjo Viinikka.

During MATKA 2017, GNTO Secretary General Dimitris Tryfonopoulos held meetings with the Ambassador of Greece in Finland Dimitris Karabalis and Consul Konstantina Kamitsi and the president of the Federation of the Finnish-Greek Associations (over 2,000 members throughout Finland) Yrjo Viinikka.

In meetings with leading tour operators, the GNTO’s secretary general underlined the importance of promoting Greece’s alternative forms to Finnish travelers. Moreover, he explored the possibility of launching synergies for joint promotional actions with tour operators that are selling sports and school tourism packages.

Tryfonopoulos also met with Scandinavian journalists and travel bloggers, who showed a high interest for destinations that are lesser known and offer alternative forms of tourism such as mountain skiing.

The largest travel industry event in Northern Europe, some 700 exhibitors participated in Matka 2017. Organizers said that visitor numbers this year exceeded 72,000, up 5,000 compared to 2016.