I would like to express the hope that this particular conference will be an institution and a fruitful platform for the exchange of views and the development of dialogue on a very important issue concerning tourism, the tourism development of Western Greece.
We at the magazines, work a lot on the trends, so at the end of each year, in the magazine of the Athens airport in “ready to board”, we study and present the trends that will dominate the following year.
Trends come and go, they are a bit “fads”, they have the element of ephemerality, but at the same time, they are also worthy tools and small road maps, which with the right processing and with the right strategy can bring results.
In this particular case I will present you 4 trends, which are potentially exploitable for the topic of tourism in Western Greece and how these international trends meet with tourism in the region.
These 4 trends are run by 3 key words.
The first word is “sustainability”.
It is a very important factor, given the climate change that leads us to new models of tourism development.
In a related survey, 60% of respondents answered that their choice of accommodation or destination is very much defined by whether this destination or accommodation is environmentally friendly.
Second key word is the word “duration”.
We live in an era of high demands, where times are pressing, where we are called to be multiple present.
The “X” generation, i.e. the ages 45-55, is the generation that, based on research, seems to be trying to put the length of the trip on its agenda.
And this means that he could – and he ardently wishes – if he has the possibility, instead of for example for 15 days in Folegandros, to stay even a month.
This word “duration” takes us to the third key word, which is the word “exploration”.
The modern traveler seems to be starting to distance himself from the word tourist. He doesn’t see the destination like a postal cart but he sees the destination in its depth, he wants to link to the destination “3D”, to make his own discoveries and be led into rejuvenating experiences.
It is the so-called regenerating travel. The “journey of rebirth”.
Which automatically introduces us to the 4 attitudes I want to present to you.
The first trend is meaningful travel or otherwise meaningful travel, as it has prevailed in English, it is no coincidence that EOT has also included meaningful travel in its strategy this year.
However, for a trip to be meaningful, it is good to include 3 axes.
The first axis is the contact with the local population, with the residents of the destination.
The second axis includes knowledge, participation and interactivity in the trip, on the part of the traveler, so as to create experiences that can lead him to small changes in his life.
And the third axis is volunteerism.
When it comes to meaningful travel for example see Messolonghi, which is a destination that could join this trend for many reasons, not only because of uniqueness and beauty. It is a destination that can bring the visitor in contact with local fishermen, let visitors come into contact with traditional fishing techniques and finally end up with culinary experiences crowned with roe.
In any case, culinary tourism is very important for creating meaningful trips.
The next trend that I quickly want to develop is the adventure travel, that we see it consistently present almost every year and takes various forms.
This year, for example, we saw from an American express survey that 60% of travelers want trips, expeditions, trips, explorations (Galapagos, Antarctica, Himalayas).
And we come to the case of Greece. We know that Greece is an ideal destination for adventure travel.
Let’s look more specifically at adventure travel in Western Greece.
In front of us very close there is a historical climbing field, the Varasovathe oldest climbing field opened in Greece as early as 1950. Varasova receives a very large percentage of Greek climbers and there is no lack of any climbing school program.
But it has all those elements to attract climbers and visitors from abroad.
And I bring here a good example, the example of Kalymnos, an island which experienced a profound crisis due to the sponginess it is currently living in, let’s say its second youth.
Precisely because of climbing tourism, the tourist season has already started and will reach until November and the same applies to Leonidio. The same applies to Kyparissi in Laconia.
So why shouldn’t this apply to Varasova and why not to her Nun, which also has a very interesting climbing area?
I don’t want to leave other outdoor activities out. Whether we are talking about rafting in Evinos, or we are talking about kite surfing in Drepanos a very popular “surf site” which also hosts related competitions.
And with that I go to the third.
In the third tendency which is the domestic tourism.
We are talking about a trend that exists anyway domestic travel but which we see is strengthening due to geopolitical conditions.
Today we saw that again we have big storms in the Middle East and of course due to the accuracy this does not mean that we are not traveling abroad. But it means again based on surveys, that travelers prefer for short trips to take city breaks close to their home
So this trend of domestic tourism, of the return to domestic tourism, is also strengthened by cultural actions and large events. In Patras we know the Patrinos Carnival, I don’t need to say many words about it.
However, I also include a festival that started last year and seems to have prospects, it is the Helmos festival, a very young institution that includes outdoor activities as well as music.
I’m standing in Helmos to bring a little of the “surprise” that it is astrotourism.
And I’m not talking about space travel which costs and concerns very few.
I refer to tourism as an activity related to the observation of astronomical phenomena in skies that have no light pollution.
So in Helmos we have him Aristarchus, the telescope of the National Observatory of Athens which could, with the appropriate synergies, possibly be an occasion for such actions.
The Finns are not smarter than they have created special hotels with transparent domes, where you can see the Northern Lights.
I presented you with 4 trends, which are reasons and food for thought.
What is needed in my opinion is definitely integrated strategy, synergy and partnership between stakeholders and agencies is required and of course hard work.
The airport of Athens started and is currently a and case studies precisely for this reason. Because through hard work, perseverance and synergies right now we are happy to say that the season – the first quarter closes with 16.5% growth – and this is a hopeful message without an unexpected.
I hope that similar and nice things will happen in Western Greece as well.
