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 The
Greek Minister of Tourism, Mr Dimitris Avramopoulos travelled to India
and participated in
the 5th World Travel & Tourism Summit,
which took place from April 8-10, 2005 in
New Delhi. In a series of highly interactive discussions and key-note
presentations, 700 leading government, industry and media players from
around the world discussed the need for the Travel & Tourism sector to
realize its full potential for social and economic good in the
forthcoming years.
The inauguration of the congress was declared by the Honourable
President of India, Dr Abdul Kalam,
who said among others that an integrated approach with the
simultaneous growth of means of transportation
and
the construction of streets and health centres will increase the
number of tourists that visit his country. Also, he stressed the need
to develop wider tourist regions in Southern Asia instead of the local
and national tourism.
Then, the Indian Minister of Tourism, Mrs. Renuka Chowdhury asked from
the tourist industry to invest in this sector and added that the
government facilitates the investment of foreigner capital at 100% in
tourism and in hotel enterprises.
 The
Greek Minister had discussions with the Indian Minister of Tourism as
well as with highly influential world leaders of tourism describing
how the Travel & Tourism industry can create genuine prosperity for
everyone involved. He also met with a panel of Indian
industrialists,
businessmen and investors
and
spoke for the new prospective and opportunities for tourist
investments in Greece.
He
accepted an invitation to attend a special meeting - Forum in New
Delhi next December
and
counter proposed the repetition of the meeting in Athens with the
attendance of interested persons from the Greek economic, commercial
and enterprising industries. These meetings will have as main
objective to place in a concrete base a closer collaboration between
the two countries, with particular emphasis in the sector of
investments. The Indian businessmen underlined their interest to
invest in Greece underlining the dynamics of the Indian economy and
the prospects of investing abroad. Greece stands first
in the interest of
the Indian investors, since it can
constitute the gate of India to Europe, more specifically after the
successful organisation of the Olympic Games in Athens that has
strengthened the international prestige of the country.
In the frames of the congress a protocol of collaboration was signed
between the Greek Chairman of IATTA, Yannis Evagelou and the Chairman
of the Union of Indian Tourist Agents.
With his return
to
Athens, Mr Avramopoulos announced the creation of 49 new offices of
the Greek Touristic Organisation (EOT) abroad, beginning with Beijing
and N. Delhi. Time horizon for the foundation of the new offices is
the
coming
September.
Mr. Avramopoulos stressed also, that Greece is opened in all the new
emerging tourist markets, with which
a
period of collaboration
begins
with final objective the dynamic presence of our country in the world
economic and investment environment.
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