The Philoxenia and Hotelia exhibitions welcomed a highly increased number of visitors, as a total 14,281 individuals entered Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre from 13 to 16 November in order to visit the two events organised by TIF-Helexpo.

More specifically, the 30th Philoxenia welcomed 12,074 visitors, i.e. there was a 54% increase in the number of visitors compares to last year’s event, which also included the Polis exhibition. Hotelia, in turn, which was not a separate exhibition last year but was part of Philoxenia, attracted the interest of 2,207 visitors this year.

Philoxenia also enjoyed high attendance by hosted buyers, who numbered 4,718, as compared to 2,665 last year (+77%).

Hotelia welcomed 495 hosted buyers, coming from 23 countries to visit both events, a fact that proves that dynamism and penetration of Philoxenia and Hotelia in international markets.

The great interest of the tourism sector in the exhibition and the prospect of becoming a reference point for tourism in South-East Europe is proven by the international hosted buyers (invited trade visitors) who visited Philoxenia and attended important meetings with Greek enterprises.

The conferences and numerous events organised by Municipalities from all over Greece within the framework of the two exhibitions were also by large crowds. ‘Destination Thessaloniki’, an international conference co-organised by TIF-Helexpo, the Thessaloniki Convention Bureau (TCB) and the Greek National Tourism Organisation, highlighted the efforts and plans of agencies of Thessaloniki and Northern Greece to valiantly place the city on the international tourism ‘map’. The experiences of other cities in the broader region of SE Europe and their prospects of cooperation with Thessaloniki were also presented during the conference.

Tourism growth prospects were recorded at the conference organised by the Region of Central Macedonia titled ‘Tourism in the Region of Central Macedonia – Raising Tourism Awareness’, at the 3rd Conference of the Macedonia-Thrace Hotel Managers’ Association titled ‘The Road of Greek Tourism to Success’ and at the open meeting of the Council of Presidents of Hotel Associations.

Finally, the innovation of this year’s Hotelia was DPOINT HOTEL VILLAGE, an innovative village where hotel furniture, decoration products and equipment were presented at an event titled ‘The Future of Hotel & Restaurant Design’.

18/11/2014 – 11:18

TIF-Helexpo is taking the first step towards establishing the ‘twin’ exhibitions Philoxenia and Hotelia as the most important event of the tourism industry in South-East Europe by holding this year’s events from 13 to 16 November.

As stressed during today’s Press Conference at Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre, the national exhibition agency aspires for the regional international tourism market to be represented at this pair of exhibitions, so that foreign hosted buyers can ‘buy’ into Greece, faced with the entirety of the domestic tourism product, on the one hand, and to be able to discover the tourism panorama of the Balkans, on the other.

The President of TIF-Helexpo, Mr Tassos Tzikas, stressed the representation of nearly all of Greece at the 30th Philoxenia, referring to the return of the Regions of Attica and Crete to the event after numerous years. The CEO of the company, Mr Kyriakos Pozrikidis, characterised Philoxenia as the oldest tourism exhibition in the country and the only of its kind, which is currently experiencing a rejuvenation.

In turn, the deputy general director of the national exhibition agency, Mr Alexis Tsaxirlis, stressed the successful effort to completely overhaul Philoxenia and underlined the tremendous prospects of Hotelia, focusing on the sector of hotel equipment.

The authorised consultant on tourism and international relations of the municipality, Mr Spyros Pengas, formulated the proposal of the Municipality of Thessaloniki for the organisation of a tourism investment forum by TIF-Helexpo and spoke of a leap in quality at Philoxenia. 

The 30th Philoxenia has attracted select hosted buyers from Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, France, Germany, India, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, the Netherlands, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, South Africa and the United States.

Over 100 international hosted buyers will attend this year’s event as representatives of major tour operators and tourism agencies and will participated in over 1,000 scheduled appointments with exhibitors. Major international markets will also be participating in this year’s event, such as Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria, FYROM, Egypt, Austria, Moldova, Tunisia and Indonesia.

In total, the exhibitors at this year’s Philoxenia and Hotelia number 200, as compared to 152 last year. The majority of the domestic tourism ‘map’ is being represented at this year’s ‘twin’ tourism exhibitions of TIF-Helexpo, as evidenced by the 4,600 square meters of exhibition area covered this year, compared to 3,100 last year.

As regards Hotelia, this year’s creative innovation will be DPOINT HOTEL VILLAGE at Pavilion 12, which is a model village where furniture and decoration products as well as hotel equipment will be on exhibit.

The ‘square’ of this village will host the Hotel Design Project, where Andreas Varotsos (industrial designer), Sotiris Lazou (industrial designer), Aspassia Taka (architect), Manolis Metridis (architectural engineer), Yiorgis Pittarokilis (mechanical engineer, industrial designer) and Yiannis Yeorgaras (industrial designer) will present their proposals for model hotel rooms.

This year, there will be a rich schedule of parallel events, the most prestigious of which is ‘Destination Thessaloniki’, a conference aiming at highlighting the infrastructure and prospects of the city of Thessaloniki as a destination for international congresses, exhibitions and events of a scientific and cultural nature.

The two events will be inaugurated by the Minister of Tourism, Ms Olga Kefaloyianni, on Thursday, 13 November, at 20.00 in ‘Emilios Riadis’ Hall. Philoxeia and Hotelia are being held under the auspices of the Greek National Tourism Organisation, the Ministry of Macedonia-Thrace and all the major tourism agencies of the country, such as the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels (XEE), the Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies (HATTA), the Hellenic Federation of Hoteliers (POX) and the Macedonia-Thrace Travel Agents’ Association.

Artion Conferences & Events is the associate in the field of hosted buyers, Skyserv is the sponsor and the National Bank of Greece is the official bank.

The working hours of the two exhibitions is as follows: Thursday and Friday from 11.00 to 20.00 and only for commercial visitors, on Saturday from 11.00 to 20.00 for commercial visitors and the public, and on Sunday from 11.00 to 18.00 also for commercial visitors and the public.

12/11/2014 – 17:18

‘One more step towards cultural diversity and an open, cosmopolitan outlook, as dictated by the history and geographical location of Thessaloniki’; this is how Deputy Minister of Culture, Ms. Angela Gerekou, characterised Art Thessaloniki International Contemporary Art Fair to be held from October 29 to November 1, 2015. The event is to be co-organised by TIF-HELEXPO and Tsatsis Projects/Artforum. Ms. Gerekou added that this venture will encourage the dialogue between artists and the art-loving public, while it will comprise a meeting point for a wide range of artistic trends and creations.  

The Deputy Minister stressed that culture can be combined with an extroverted attitude and growth and, therefore, with the economy of the country. She went on to explain exactly how these three parameters, namely, ‘culture, extroversion, and economic growth’ run through the entire philosophy of the Ministry of Culture. Ms. Gerekou also expressed her hopes that the new event will become a platform for the exchange of ideas in the culture sector.    

On his part, Mr. Tasos Tzikas, the President of TIF-HELEXPO, underlined that Art Thessaloniki is, inter alia, an attempt for the national exhibition agency to rediscover its charming relationship with culture, since it has often been the ‘birthplace’ of various significant culture events, such as the Film Festival and the Greek Song Festival of Thessaloniki. 

In his turn, Mr. Kyriakos Pozrikidis, the CEO of TIF-HELEXPO, remarked that such initiatives aim at branding Thessaloniki as an art-lovers’ destination in SE Europe, while he also announced that  a major campaign is to be launched abroad to promote the new exhibition event.   

«We aspire that Art Thessaloniki will be an open-horizon art-fair that will pave new ways and reveal untapped aspects of the city’s dynamism. The event will embrace Balkan, Black Sea, and Mediterranean countries, Russia, Turkey, Israel and the whole world», underlined the Artistic Director of Art Thessaloniki, Mr. Pantelis Tsatsis.  

The support of the state for this ambitious effort was expressed by Art Philosophy Professor and Culture Advisor to the Prime Minister, Mr. Demosthenes Davvetas. According to Prof. Davvetas, art products should be competitive and the choices made for Art Thessaloniki, as well as its participants, should be of top calibre.

His satisfaction by this effort undertaken in Thessaloniki was also expressed by Art Historian and AUTh Professor, Mr. Charis Savvopoulos. He stressed that such an opening provides the opportunity to numerous young people to get acquainted with works not readily accessible to them.   

Art Thessaloniki is an event investing in the strategic geographical location of Thessaloniki, in the city’s multicultural identity and long and rich history. The event identity will be shaped by art galleries from Greece and abroad as well as a programme of satellite events to be held throughout the city, with the participation of young artists, cultural agencies, foundations, institutes and art publishers.    

10/11/2014 – 15:13