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Greece focuses on history, luxury, environment

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Kofinis

MARRYING Greece’s ancient history and natural assets with luxury city breaks forms the core of the Greek National Tourism Organisation’s strategy to increase visitors from the Middle East.
Ioannis Kofinis, president of the Greek National Tourism Organisation felt that while Greece was a long established, historical destination for European holidaymakers, re-creating such success in the Middle East represented a different set of challenges.
“The Middle East, along with Russia, China, Poland and South Africa, is one of our key target markets and we are doing a lot of research in tailoring our products to attract a higher proportion of regional customers. It is a market which has a lot of potential but it is different, with different needs to Western European markets,” said Kofinis.
With a population of just over 11 million, tourism contributes a major 20 per cent of Greece’s GDP.  And despite nearby neighbours Turkey, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia all investing heavily in their tourism propositions, Kofinis remains unperturbed by the threat Middle East and other Mediterranean countries pose to Greece’s vital tourism sector.
“I don’t view the industry in terms of competition; I think Greece is a unique product and as a destination it is important we focus on our strongest attributes; hence, our history, our culture and our traditions form vital components in our tourism strategy.  Our culture and history are a world-wide attraction and it is right that we leverage this as one of our destination’s strengths,” he said.
“Every country, including those in the Middle East, has something different to offer and we don’t think Europeans will travel to other regions instead of Greece; everywhere attracts different clients.”
“However, to attract Middle East guests to Greece, we need to offer luxury city breaks and push our mountains, forests our great historical sites – we need to offer products which aren’t available locally,” he added.
Kofinis said that any future development must limit environmental impact to the area’s natural landscapes, and that ensuring an eco-conscious focus was the number one priority in its tourism development strategy.

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