Greece is going through a major economic crisis which is redefining public economics, politics, wealth distribution and development opportunities. Tourism is widely seen as one of the few major drivers for economic growth and prosperity in the future. Having such incredible resources, Greece has a natural advantage to do tourism and hospitality.
Re-engineering Greek Tourism is an initiative to bring together the best practice, expertise, talent and innovations that will help Greece re-engineer its tourism offering and create synergies to enhance the competitiveness of both the private and public tourism sectors. It comes from the realisation that it is not the Greek State that will be in a position to drive development and competitiveness. It is also evident that Greece will not benefit from yet another brand or heavy advertising in expensive media. Instead best global innovation and practice supported by scientific methodologies and evidence will need to be employed. Technology and eTourism is critical for illustrating the Greek beauty and resources globally, organise, cluster and reposition the tourism product, engage in conversation with stakeholders and develop a neural agile network to implement intelligent strategies and promotions. To preserve the future generations, emphasis needs to be given to sustainability of environmental and cultural resources but also of economic resources, entrepreneurship and profitability.
The purpose of Re-engineering Greek Tourism will be to engage in dialogue all stakeholders and generate synergies that will support both Greek enterprises and destinations to redefine their tourism products, enhance collaboration, explore economies of scope and clusters to enhance value, improve competitiveness, and achieve sustainable collective profitability. To achieve this Greek tourism needs re-engineering, new processes and paradigms that take advantage of global expertise and aim to maximise benefits for tourists, enterprises and local residents.
Re-engineering Greek Tourism aims to ensure that all stakeholders involved in tourism in Greece gain more value and benefits whilst the activity generates sustainable competitive advantage for the region. This initiative will engage all stakeholders in a public dialogue to:
- Demonstrate how global best practice can assist Greece to reengineer its tourism product
- Engage all stakeholders to enable the creation and development of memorable experiences
- Use scientific methods for tourism planning, management and marketing
- Foster innovations, start-ups, and entrepreneurship in tourism
- Use cutting edge, scientific, technology-empowered marketing and branding techniques
- Focus on Small & Medium Tourism Enterprises as the engine of Greek tourism with high impact
- Employ technology to implement latest eTourism solutions to maximise the collective competitiveness
- Develop research and education to enhance tourism competitiveness
- Promote design for all practice and addressing the widest range of market segments
- Encourage investments in new and innovative tourism propositions
- Engage with the Greek education system to improve tourism understanding and professionalism
- Involve traditional and new media in generating and distributing stories and themes of the emerging Greece
- Support synergies between initiatives to help Greek Tourism
- Engage the young talent of Greek tourism to develop innovative tourism products
- Create dynamic and agile opportunities to foster strategic dialogue and implementation synergies.
Re-engineering Greek Tourism is initiated by Professor Dimitrios Buhalis Director of the eTourism Lab at Bournemouth University and supported by many partners.
The initiative will be supported by a series of Conferences and Workshops, a range of social media tools scientific and academic research, engagement with relevant bodies and stakeholders and a continued public dialogue. “We are planning a series of events in London with a series of key panels of international experts in Greek tourism. Other events and initiatives will follow soon around the world”, said Professor Dimitrios Buhalis.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
