The 25th PHILOXENIA International Tourism Exhibition and the parallel HOTELIA Hotel Furnishing Exhibition Event are at the focal point of European Exhibition activity in the tourist sector. The events are to be held from October 29 to November 1 at Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre and they are characterised by exceptional dynamism and intense extroversion. There are also extremely topical session themes at the 2nd European Tourism Conference:  “The Day after - Turning Crisis into Growth”. The official inauguration of the 25th PHILOXENIA and the 2nd European Tourism Conference is to be made by Under-Secretary for Tourism, Ms. Aggeliki Gerekou, on October 29, at 8 p.m.
 
At the 25th PHILΟΧΕΝΙΑ, as stressed by the President of HELEXPO S.A., Mr. AristotelisThomopoulos, at the pre-Exhibition Press Conference - which was also attended by the Chairman of the Hellenic Hotel Federation (POX), Mr. Andreas Andreadis, and the Chairman of the Association of Travel agents of Macedonia-Thrace, Mr. Dimitris Mantousis - there are 800 exhibitors, as compared to 820 at last year’s event. Exhibitors come from 18 countries, namely: Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, Syria, and Turkey. There are also 11 countries participating with organized state delegations (Cyprus, the Czech Republic Bulgaria, Egypt, India, Italy, Russia, Serbia, Syria, Turkey, and Tunisia).
 
This year’s event is complemented by a particularly dynamic hosted buyers programme. Invitations have been extended to 70 tour operators from 22 countries, namely: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA. There is also a hosted media programme in the context of the exhibition, as well as a parallel cultural event programme, spreading the special “colour” of Greece around the globe.
 
Special emphasis is also being placed this year on enhancing the competitiveness of HOTELIA, the Hotel Furnishing Exhibition, which traditionally ‘accompanies’ PHILOXENIA. At the next event to be held, it will be co-organised by HELEXPO and EXRPO & CLEAN, opening new horizons for the industry in SE Europe.
 
Of course, all these are combined with the customary presentations of:
- “Philoxenia Tourism Awards” to top tourism destinations chosen by the general public through electronic voting, and
- “Morpheus” awards, to the ‘best of the best’ among Greek hotels, which were evaluated by certified ‘secret inspectors’ of TUV-HELLAS on behalf of PHILOXENIA.
 
The presentation of “TourismAwards” will take place during the inauguration ceremony at the 25th PHILOXENIA and the 2nd European Tourism Conference, by the Under-Secretary for Tourism, Ms. Aggeliki Gerekou. The event will be presented by Ms. Emy Livaniou, while the award presentation will be accompanied by a special dance/song performance by Ms. Nina Lotsari.
 
At the Press Conference for the 25thPHILOXENIA, the Chairman of Hellenic Hotel Federation (POX), Mr. Andreas Andreadis and the Chairman of the Association of Travel agents of Macedonia-Thrace, Mr. Dimitris Mantousis, praised the importance and dynamism of the 25th PHILOΧENIA, and proceeded to make forecasts about tourism in 2010; they also presented requests made by the agencies they represent to the new political leadership of the Tourism Sector. 

According to the first hotel sample survey in the country, assigned this year to GBRConsulting by POX, the results of which will be presented in detail by POX in the framework of the 25th PHILΟΧΕΝΙΑ, it is expected that the year 2009 will close with a turnover reduction of around 16% for the total number of around 10,000 hotels in the country; this, according to Mr. Andreadis means a ‘major blow’ to both net profits and operational profits of hotel businesses  around the country; last year, operational costs had maintained positive figures, even for firms with net loss balances.

On behalf of POX, the new political leadership of Tourism in our country as well as the Government are asked to focus on reinforcing cash flow and competitiveness of the Greek hotel industry and the Greek tourism product, and, particularly, service costs, given that 2010 is expected to be a ‘tough year’ for Greek tourism, due to the crisis, the recent dollar depreciation and the low sterling-euro exchange rate, which definitely render destinations outside the Eurozone more attractive. As for domestic tourism, Mr. Andreadis expressed his reservations as to how this will go in 2010, since he estimates that “Greece is only now entering the crisis and in 2010 Greek people will experience related problems more intensely”.

In a similar tone, POX calls on the Banking System to support the Greek hotel industry, either through TEMPME (Credit Guarantee Fund for Small and Very Small Enterprises) or other banking tools.

In his part, the Chairman of the Association of Travel agents of Macedonia-Thrace, Mr. Dimitris Mantousis, asked for loans to be frozen, for sector debts to be re-financed and for airport landing charges to be reduced – at least at regional airports – by 50%. He also announced that the sector’s turnover is down by 25-30% and expressed the view that the crisis will be felt more intensely in Greece in 2010. 

2nd European Tourism Conference
The 2nd European Tourism Conference, titled “The Day after – Turning Crisis into Growth”, which is taking place in the framework of the 25th PHILOXENIA, is to be held on Friday and Saturday, October 30 and 31,  2009 at “Ioannis Vellidis” Conference Centre. It is organized by  HELEXPO and EUROPRESS MEDIA GROUP (EMG), under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and with the support of the International Department of the Association of European Journalists (AEJ), the “EuropeanBusinessReview” magazine and the “BestofGreece” Publication.

This is a particularly topical and interesting international conference attended by top participants, aiming at jointly investigating the ‘day after’ and how the recession can be turned into a gradual recovery of the economy and tourist product development. Ms. Irini Pari, the Vice-President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), Dr. Kelly Bricker, the Chair of the Board of the “International Ecotourism Society”, Ms. Juliana Azumah-Mensah, the Minister of Tourism of Ghana (honoured Country of the World Tourism Organisation, where the celebration of the World Tourism Day is to be held this year), Mr. Daniel Charbonnier, the person who inspired and created “Zero Star Hotels”, a professor at  DCT Hotel & Business Management School, Ms. Kristina Keller, representing TUI Riese Centre and a member of the management team of 9 travel agencies in Germany, representatives of the Greek government, associations of tourism enterprises and major firms active at the European level are going to attend this important event in the tourism sector to be held in our country.