Jose Kalathil

Knowing the importance of India as one of the fast-growing economies and more than 5.5 million of its citizens go abroad every year, officials of the Greek Ministry of Tourism were in New Delhi recently to woo a part of these outbound Indian tourists to this Hellenic Republic, located at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe. Situated on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, sharing land borders with the Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, Turkey to the northeast and Albania to the northwest, Greece has the longest coastline on the Mediterranean Basin, and the 11th longest in the world. This mountainous country’s highest peak is Mount Olympus at 2,918 meters (9,573 ft).

Ambassador Panos Kalogeropoulos (right) with Katerina Mousbeh.

So, it was natural that the Greek Ministry of Tourism and the Embassy of Greece in India joined hands to organise the first-ever Tourism workshop in the country to market its many rare natural and historical destinations to Indians. The workshop, sponsored by the Turkish Airlines, Mideast Travel Worldwide and The Booking Expert, was attended by about 100 travel agents, tour operators, medical facilitators and business representatives.

The workshop was undertaken by the Congress Business Planners to create a stronger cooperation network between Greek and Indian tourism companies and to reinforce the value of Greece as a destination for luxury, MICE and medical tourism. Many Greek organisations representing top hotels and companies specialized in medical tourism, attended the workshop, during which 170 one-to-one meetings took place.

Earlier, welcoming the participants, Greek Ambassador to India, Mr. Panos Kalogeropoulos, emphasized the historic and cultural relations between the two countries and hoped that more Indians would visit his country. He also added that India was a very large and interesting market, but it required persistence and concentrated efforts to gain people’s interest and trust.

Managing Director of Congress Business Planners, Ms. Souha Katerina Mousbeh, describing Greece as one of the safest countries worldwide, invited all Indians to enjoy the endless beauties of her country. She added that Greece is a famous tourist destination as visitors can combine good offers at exceptional hotel resorts combined with delicious food and many activities suiting all needs.