Greece will make a greater play at the Australian market with the country revealing plans to re-establish a beachhead based in the Victorian capital.
Greece’s Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias confirmed this week the Greek National Tourism Organisation will be headquartered in Melbourne, within the office of the Greek Community of Melbourne, in Lonsdale St. The vision had also previously been mooted in late 2022.
Last week, Greece’s tourism ministry said it would be submitting a bill to Parliament seeking to create a tourist office in Australia. The strategic move aims to leverage the growing popularity of Greece as a holiday destination for Australian travellers.
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“The strategy for promoting new destinations, opening to new markets, attracting high spending travellers, which significantly strengthened the economy of the local of the local community and promoting of city breaks or city tourism, bore fruit,” Kikilias is reported to have written in a local newspaper last weekend.
“It is very important for us to add more markets, more dynamics in the country, so that we have travellers and tourism 12 months a year,” the Minister said.
He said Greece’s lesser-known woodland regions and mountain landscapes in the nation’s north would be a focus for travel outside of the popular peak season.
“This is the target that we’re aiming for. It’s crucial because you understand it’s on the other side of the world, another continent, another market finally open again after two years of pandemic-induced restrictions”.
The Greek Community of Melbourne said it has been pushing to revive a GNTO presence in Australia for the past eight years.