ANNUAL international travel and tourism exhibition, and Greece’s primary event for this sector, Philoxenia will take place for its 26th consecutive year in Thessaloniki from November 18 to 21, 2010.
The event is the premier meeting place for entrepreneurs in the tourism sector across the broader region of the south eastern Mediterranean, offering a forum where international experiences are exchanged in a creative manner.
The major strong point of Philoxenia is its catalytic role in the developments of the South Eastern Europe and Balkan markets particularly given the specific weight that modern tourism enterprises have in these developments.
With its 25 years of experience in the field of tourism exhibitions and with Hel Expo guaranteeing its consistent progress in the future, Philoxenia 2010 will again be an event which will afford participants the opportunity to expand their business and find ways to support their enterprises during this difficult year for the sector.
State representatives, tourist offices, hotels, airlines and shipping companies, local authorities and tourist guides operating on national and international levels will be present at the most important event in the field of tourism to take place in Greece.
According to Philoxenia project manager Chrissa Krassa: “Notwithstanding the global crisis, we are expecting the attendance of both exhibitors and visitors to be high. We are focusing on this target through various promotional activities such as extended publicity, enhancement of trade transactions and a low-price policy.”
Exhibitors and visitors at Philoxenia are ensured international visibility, direct communication with top tourism companies covering a wide range of interests, prospects of direct trade agreements, collaborations that expand customer base and assured opportunities for new multi-level co-operation through the hosted buyers programme.
Parallel events, congresses and collaboration with international associations, invitations to tour operators worldwide, maximum publicity and top-notch organisation will make this a must-attend event for exhibitors.
Events taking place during and alongside Philoxenia include the international hotel equipment exhibition Hotelia – Expro Clean and the first Black Sea Partnership Forum for Tour and Travel Operators (BSTIP) in association with HATTA (Hellenic Association of Travel and Tour Agents in Greece) which is expected to attract more than 25 tour operators from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.
Also running in parallel, the third European Tourism Conference will be held on November 19 and will take as its main theme ‘A new model for tourism – the creation and development of a new model for tourism, adapted to modern social and economic characteristics and conditions based on multiculturalism, principles and values of the continent’.
And through the three sections of the conference – ‘environment, culture, tourism’, ‘tourism 12 months’ and ‘digital agenda in tourism and strategies marketing’ – important industry personalities will be invited to participate in discussion and debate to help identify problems and solutions to strengthen the tourism product.