Greece to Chair OECD High Level Meeting on Tourism Policies for Sustainable Growth

OECD Conference Center in Paris, France.

Representing Greece, the Tourism Ministry will chair the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) high level Tourism Committee meeting to take place in Paris in October.

OECD’s high level meeting will bring together ministers, senior policy makers and industry leaders to discuss ways to deliver more sustainable and inclusive tourism growth. The event will be chaired by Greek Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura.

Greek Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura.

The meeting will take place on October 2-3 at the OECD Conference Center in Paris and mark the occasion of the 100th meeting of the Tourism Committee and support the future policy agenda of OECD member and partner countries. It will draw attention to the major advances made in the implementation of effective tourism policies and programs and will facilitate open discussions about long term objectives for tourism development, and how an effective, forward-looking, whole-of-government approach to tourism can help achieve these objectives.

This is the first time Greece will chair the OECD’s tourism committee’s meeting. “This is a result of the efforts made to upgrade Greece’s international presence and establish closer relations between the tourism ministry and the OECD in the field of tourism,” the tourism ministry said an announcement on Wednesday.

According to the ministry, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría has underlined that Greece is the best choice to chair the high level meeting as it is a world renowned destination and an active member of the OECD with a long-standing presence on its Executive Committee.

Program

The OECD meeting on tourism policies for sustainable and inclusive growth will consist of three main sessions:
– Fostering a Whole-of-government Approach in Tourism: Exploring the need for effective institutions and governance mechanism to foster a forward-looking, whole-of-government approach to achieve long term strategic objectives for tourism.
– Analysing Megatrends to Better shape the future of Tourism: Addressing how megatrends will fundamentally change the environment for tourism in the years to come.
– Leveraging Investment for Sustainable and Inclusive Tourism Growth: Discussing quality infrastructure and investment for the development of tourism destinations and SMEs.

The tourism ministry is in close cooperation with the OECD to jointly prepare the meeting and overall promote strategic and development planning issues in tourism, under the supervision of Greece’s secretary general for Tourism Policy and Development, Yiorgos Tziallas. For these issues, Tziallas has been attending meetings with the OECD Head of Tourism Alain Dupeyras.