7th International Hospitality Forum

With a large and lively participation of hundreds of hoteliers from every corner of Greece and with platinum sponsor HORECA 2024, the 7th International Hospitality Forum was concluded on Saturday, February 10, at the Metropolitan Expo.

Particularly useful and insightful were the positions of executives in the tourism market, Greek and foreign, high-ranking executives of the banking system, but also representatives of global investment and hotel giants, who have placed, as they stated, Greece on the high priority list of their upcoming investment moves.

Mr. Alexandros Vassilikos, president of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, spoke of a victory worthy of respect during his greeting, underlining the resilience of the Greek tourism industry in the face of the economic and health crisis that overshadowed Greek and European society in the last decade. Mr. Vassilikos spoke about the pride that Greek hoteliers are entitled to feel, as with their business resilience, adaptability and maturity they managed to make the tourism product a leading force in terms of GDP growth, in terms of social cohesion, but also towards national development prospects.

Athens, target of Gen Ζ – Greece, paradise of personalized leisure

Global giants of the tourism market, such as Accor and Virgin, seem to have crystallized a settled, extremely positive view of the future of Greek tourism. Through the positions of A-list executives Frank Reul, VP- Development Accor Premium, Midscale & Economy Brands (Eastern Europe, Balkans, Italy & Greece) and Will Dowling, EMEA Development, Virgin Hotels, the conclusions drawn are really very auspicious for the Greek hotel market:

The global tourist spotlight has “locked” on countries that develop regionally from ours, such as Egypt, Albania, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia, etc., which demonstrates that Greece is already at the center of interest for tourism investments. After all, 45 international hospitality brands are already active in our country, with most of them having “knocked on our door” in the last five years.

Greece offers the desired diversity for various categories of travelers, with the Virgin representative speaking about the attractiveness of Athens to the demanding Generation Z, as the Greek capital is characterized by youthful vibrancy, night life that is not easily found elsewhere, street art, music events, a whole network of activities that magnetize the next generation of traveler-consumers. In fact, as he mentioned, Athens is starting to rise high “in the minds” of world university campuses, which raises its shares even more in the “stock market” of new visitors.

Pleasure and Work, Historicity and Discovery, Rest and New Experiences are already in the arsenal of the Greek tourist experience, and are the current demands of the modern traveler, as Mr. Reul of Accor emphasized.

The next big bet for global tourism, which already finds a very successful application in our country, is the creative pairing of luxury hotel brands with Greek hospitality businesses, small, medium or larger scale. Through this collaboration, there is an extremely beneficial transfer of know-how, marketing network, booking options, operational readiness to the Greek hotels, which for their part guard the locality, the unique Greek experience of hospitality and the authenticity sought by the conscious traveler. Through the example of his own multi-awarded tourist business Dexamenes Beach Resort, Mr. Nikos Karaflos, owner and general manager, confirmed with the “excellence” of the family’s former winery turned into an atmospheric minimal resort, that synergies with inspiring entrepreneurs and organizations with a vision like Design Hotels, can produce gems of immense tourist value.

From “family-centeredness” to “corporateness”: the next bet of Greek tourism

The transition from the generation of creators to the generation of successors and the mature management of a modern tourism business were at the center of the next panel, with the protagonists being Mr. Theodoros Tzouros, Executive General Manager, Chief of Corporate & Investment Banking of Piraeus Bank, Ms. Eftychia Kasselaki, Partner & Consulting Services EY, People Consulting, Head of EY Private and Mr. Panos Paleologos, President & Founder, Hotel Brain Group.

The very interesting discussion revolved around the momentum of maturity in which Greek tourism now finds itself. At this juncture, even small-scale tourism businesses have the opportunity, but also the interest, to move to the next stage of operation and development, either by taking over the management from the new generation of owners, or by enriching the “management tools” with modern digital media. The “willingness” but also the ability of Greek hotels, resorts, accommodations, etc. was particularly emphasized to be aligned with this new operating model, while special mention was also made of the soft criteria for the selection of accommodation, set by the EU, regarding the climate crisis, sustainability, gender equality, etc., which, as mentioned , will become hard criteria in the next 3-4 years.

The Hospitality Forum concluded with the speech of Mr. Thanos Papasavvas, CFA Founder & CIO, ABP Invest, who analyzed the international political and social environment in which Greek tourism is called upon to operate and develop. Mr. Papasavvas emphasized that from a geopolitical point of view the messages are optimistic, Greece has emerged very strong from repeated crises, inflation will enter a downward trajectory, without immediately reaching pre-crisis levels, while he underlined that the key to the success of tourism product lies in authenticity and differentiation.

The 7th International Hospitality Forum was chaired by Mrs. Maria Theofanopoulou, owner and director of the GTP-DANAE Travel & Media Group, while the panels were moderated by Mrs. Julie Rey-Gore, Content Director, Operational Real Estate, Questex, and Mr. Joe Stather, VP, Operational Real Estate, Questex.