Church of Greece, Travel Agents Team Up to Promote Pilgrimage Tours

In efforts to promote religious monuments, monasteries and holy sites, the Church of Greece and the country’s travel agents have jointly set up a committee that will work towards attracting faith tourism to Greece.

The Church of Greece through its Synodical Office of Pilgrimage Tours and Development of Religious Tourism and the Hellenic Association of Travel & Tourist Agencies (HATTA) have set up a joint research and action committee, which convened for the first time last week to discuss the schedule of events and activities for the September 2015-August 2016 period.

Issues on the agenda included the authorization of tour operators to organize pilgrimage tours and missionary travel to holy sites, the promotion of Orthodox monasteries and religious attractions, the collaboration of the Church’s tourism office with Israel’s tourism ministry and plans for its participation in the World Tourism Market (WTM) to be held in London on November 2-5.