Previous Story
ITB 2015: UNWTO Pledges Support to Greece
Posted On 05 Mar 2015
UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai. Photo source: ITB
The UN World Tourism Organization fully supports Greek tourism, UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai assured Alternate Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura during a meeting held on the sidelines of the ITB Berlin on Wednesday.
Ms. Kountoura had previously participated in the 5th UNWTO Silk Road Ministers’ Meeting at ITB which focused on the issues of visa facilitation, infrastructure development and marketing to advance transnational routes. The meeting was attended by 22 tourism ministers as well as UNESCO, the European Union, the Council of Europe, the Adventure Travel Trade Association (ATTA), the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and the Turkic Council.
A meeting with Mr. Rifai followed and she was informed that the UNWTO’s network is available, if needed, for Greek tourism.
Mr. Rifai then invited her to a working meeting at the UNWTO headquarters in Madrid to examine tourism trends worldwide and discuss the launch of joint actions, the exchange of expertise and identify ways to further enhance bilateral cooperation.
These news sound great indeed; the interest of the ”Big Guns” has been clearly expressed again in the past. But if the country does not decide to implement one strategy for the long term, no matter the changes of the governments, the results will be minimal and the credibility of the Greek Tourism Authorities will be under a threat.