At recent meetings in Madrid at the International Tourism Fair FITUR, Greek Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura met with Spanish travel industry officials in order to further boost tourist flow to Greece. According to the news, one key focus for Greece tourism this year will be broadening the scope of focus on the Spanish market, and Latin America in particular.
The crux of Kountoura’s visit to Madrid seems to have been the strengthening bilateral tourism cooperation and joint initiatives in the context of the Phoenicians’ Route cultural tourism programme in the Mediterranean, and a coming Memorandum of Understanding with Colombian Minister of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Maria Lorena Gutierrez. On the one hand Kountoura was seen working with Tourism Minister of Lebanon, Avedis Guidanian, on the “Phoenician” initiative, and on the other with her counterparts from Argentina to Cuba. During her meeting with Gutierrez, she exchanged views on tourism development and discussed the signing of said Memorandum of Understanding. Guttierez expressed particular interest in Greece’s tourism policy as well as in possible collaborations involving the exchange of know-how and tourism education and training.
Cuba’s Tourism Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, showed his interest by signing a bilateral memorandum with Greece and invited Minister Kountoura to attend Cuba’s International Tourism Fair (FITCUBA) in Havana in the spring of 2018 in order to establish further cooperation and tourism promotion between the two countries.
Also, Argentine Tourism Minister Gustavo Santos discussed the prospects for exchanging tourism know-how between Greece and Argentina and enhancing the visitor flow in between the two countries. Santos invited the Greek tourism minister to visit Argentina in order to further discuss the development and promotion of bilateral cooperation in tourism.
While in Madrid, The Greek Minister also attended a special event of the UNWTO and accepted the duties as new member of the organization’s Executive Council for 2018 – 2021.