About Our country loses 4 billion euros per year because conference tourism remains without substantial development. The lack of a coherent strategy for the development of conference and exhibition tourism compared to other European countries of the same size as Greece is demonstrated by the surveys carried out among companies and professionals who have actually invested in the business events market.
Congress tourism
At a press conference held yesterday in a central hotel in Athens, representatives of the Greek Association of Professional Event and Conference Organizers (HAPCO & DES), whose President is Ms. Sissy Lygnos, presented a study according to which the congress and events tourism sector in Greece currently contributes more than 2.5 billion euros to the national economy, an amount that could reach 6.5 billion euros in the medium term under certain conditions.
Hell, Greece
At the press conference, data was presented according to which Greece ranks 47th among 50 countries in terms of the economic contribution of conference tourism to the economy, GDP and employment of each country. As we said, we are last compared to other European countries of similar size. In Sweden, the contribution of conference tourism is three times higher than in our country. There is no infrastructure and the state has not realized the importance of the product, HAPCO representatives stressed.
Scientific conferences
As we mentioned, our country loses more than 20 international scientific conferences and more than 100 corporate events every year. In fact, we lose more than 100,000 conference visitors and more than 50,000 corporate event visitors each year, HAPCO points out.
MS. Lygnou stressed that the conference and events sector provides the solution to seasonality and quality tourism. The space must be supported and framed by a national strategy and targeted promotion and according to the plan that we have submitted to the State. It is a fact that today, due to lack of infrastructure and availability, our country loses income from conferences and events that reaches at least 1 billion euros per year.
Lack of a large convention center
For the Greek economy to benefit from the development of conference tourism according to HAPCO, it first needs a flexible and sustainable conference center, capable of hosting an international conference with a capacity of 6,000 people or more. Infrastructure development is also needed for social events and events with more than 1,500 people, as well as flexibility in the use of historic locations for events. As has been highlighted, investment in private and public sector collaboration is necessary for a conference of this magnitude. Tae Kwo Do is a place like any other, as has been said.
HAPCO also calls for targeted promotion of the Meetings Industry in Greece, VAT reimbursement for events from foreign links and companies so that Greece’s conference tourism becomes competitive with other European cities , etc.
HAPCO also pursues strategic synergies for the promotion of conference tourism, including collaboration with Aegean, which is a strategic partner of the Organization.
Greece is losing ground slightly
Although our country lost ground slightly in 2023 compared to 2022, as shown by the results of the ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association), Athens maintains its dynamics among the most important congress cities, while Thessaloniki has made impressive progress.
In particular, Greece occupies 16th place in the world ranking for 2023, compared to 13th in 2022 and respectively 11th place in Europe in 2023, compared to 10th in 2022. Athens occupies 15th place for 2023, compared to 8th place in 2022 and respectively the 11th. place in Europe in 2023, compared to 8th in 2022. Finally, Thessaloniki rose to 42nd place in the world in 2023, compared to 78th in 2022 and respectively to 26th in Europe in 2023, compared to 51st in 2022.
The contribution
The data presented by HAPCO highlights the positive aspects of the development of conference tourism:
-conferences of more than 1,500 people last 3 to 4 days with a direct impact of 1 million to five million euros while the total expenditure/person is 1,000 to 7,000 euros/person
– business conferences (Meetings) of more than 500 people lasting three days offer a direct turnover (direct impact) of 800,000 to 1,500,000 million euros. The total expenditure per capita (total expenditure/person) amounts to 1,500 euros to 4,000 euros/person.
– Incentive Trips of 100 people and lasting three days generate a direct turnover (direct impact) of 300,000 euros to 1,500,000 euros with a total expenditure per person (total expenditure/person) ranging from 3 000 euros to 15,000 euros/person
-The exhibitions of 40,000 people and lasting three days, the direct turnover (direct impact) amounts to 100,000,000 euros/year, with the contribution to the secondary sector at 500,000,000 d euros and a contribution to GDP of 100,000,000 euros.
Finally, it should be noted that conference tourism at the international level, although it has lost more than 1.9 billion due to the pandemic. Yet in 2022, business events generated more than $1.15 trillion in direct spending, while supporting 10.9 million direct jobs worldwide and generating $662.6 billion in direct GDP. The average spend per participant was $707.