Greece’s ‘Xenia’ Hotel Expo Ready to Make Major Comeback

Forum SA President and CEO Nikos Choudalakis and Vice President Thanassis Gialouris.

By Nikos Krinis

In less than two weeks, the Greek tourism industry will welcome the trademark Xenia hospitality trade show after a five-year absence.

The historic trade show, organized by Xenia Exhibitions-Conferences SA since 1969, stopped operations in 2011 with organizers citing economic difficulties due to the crisis.

The exhibition, now being made possible through Forum SA, is aiming to gain lost ground and once again become the annual meeting place of the hospitality industry.

“Xenia is one of the most symbolic and important brands for the tourism industry in our country,” said Nikos Choudalakis, president and CEO Forum SA, during a press conference on Tuesday.

“For us it is a major challenge to restart this exhibition so that it once again takes its role in the tourism industry of Greece and becomes one important commercial forum for the development of Greek tourism,” he added.

The Xenia 2017 Hospitality Exhibition will run November 25-27 at the Metropolitan Expo in Athens, aiming to to be a platform for innovation and development and to convey the message of the new era to hospitality and hotels.

According to Forum’s vice president, Thanassis Gialouris, Xenia has attracted the participation of 500 exhibitors that will cover a total space of 45,000 m2 and exhibit a range of products and services related to the construction, renovation, decoration, equipment and catering of hotels, guesthouses, rooms to rent and camp sites. The main categories of exhibitors are: Construction-Decoration-Energy-Automation, Hotel Equipment, Kitchen Equipment, Food & Beverage and Digital Technology.

The Xenia exhibition launched in 1969 by Tasos Koumanis and first took place in the area of Zappeion in Athens.

“All professionals of hotels and small lodges will be able to come in contact with leading companies that supply hotel equipment, technology solutions and online services, as well as companies specializing in the construction, renovation and saving of energy, but also with suppliers in the food industry, whose services are applicable to key areas of operation of hotels,” Gialouris said.

Gialouris underlined the significant interest the sector has already shown for Xenia’s relaunch, as more than 40,000 entrepreneurs and tourism professionals are expected to visit. Moreover, 150 hosted buyers from Cyprus, Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Albania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and other countries from the wider Balkan region are scheduled to have B2B meetings with Greek hospitality professionals.

Moreover, a special delegation of hosted buyers from Israel is planned to attend the exhibition. The Israeli delegation, supported by the Commercial Company of the Israel Hotel Association, will comprise of more than 15 top ranking executives from the 10 largest hotel chains in the country.

Parallel events

Some of the most important projects recently launched or planned to be implemented in the Greek hotel industry, will be presented as case studies on the stage of the Xenia Build Hotel conference.

The Xenia expo will also feature 80 hours of parallel events under the following themes: Smart Hotel, Digi Hotel, Build Hotel and Gastronomy Summit. Also, the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels has announced that it will hold is 1st International Hospitality Forum at Xenia. The forum will present the latest developments in the hospitality industry, as well as the latest international hotel trends. Forum will be the forum’s Gold Sponsor.

According to Forum, the advertising budget of Xenia has reached some 450,000 euros, of which 43 percent has been distributed to TV, 17 percent to radio, 14 percent to online media, 13 percent to sector press and 13 percent to barcode invitations to thousands of specific hospitality professionals in Greece and Cyprus.

Xenia 2017 will be held under the auspices of the Greek Tourism Ministry, the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), the Hellenic Hotel Federation, the Athens-Attica & Argosaronic Hotel Association, the Greek Confederation of Tourist Accommodation Enterprises (SETKE) and the Cyprus Hotel Managers Association.

The Greek Travel Pages (GTP) is a Strategic Media Partner to the Xenia 2017 exhibition.