Athens—Beyond Ancient Greece

Despite the summer heat in Beijing, professionals and elites in tourism industry from China and abroad got together at the 11th International Forum on Chinese Outbound Tourism (IFCOT2015) & Silk Road Tourism Cooperation Forum sponsored by WTCF and Ivy Alliance Tourism Consulting. During the forum, we had an interview with Fotis Provatas, deputy secretary general of WTCF and chairman of Greek-Chinese Economic Council, who has committed himself to improving the friendship between Greece and China. With a clear mind, Mr Provatas, hale and hearty, shared his ideas concerning the forum, the present situation of tourism market of China and Greece and future cooperation between the two countries in tourism with us.

Q=World Tourism Cities Magazine A= Fotis Provatas Chairman of Greek-Chinese Economic Council

Q: Could you talk about your feelings about this forum (IFCOT2015) ?

A: To tell you the truth, it was very interesting. Because it is the first time that we are discussing the outbound tourism policies of China. For the development of Chinese tourism. We chose the theme “One Belt, One Road”, which is the new tourism idea from China to Europe.

Q: How many times have you been in China? Did you attend the Beijing International Tourism Expo? What do you think of it?

A: Last 3 years, I have been in China for 7-8 times. I have attended the International Tourism Expo 2015 and remained there for the following forum. I must say that it was a very interesting Expo. There is a very big participation from all over the world. Many national tourism organizations, tourism companies, delegations, and other parties have attended the Expo. It is a very nice opportunity for the international tourism market to meet once a year and certainly is an excellent opportunity to attract the Chinese citizens to travel to these countries.

Q: As you serve in many different institutions like the Greek-Chinese Economic Council, and is devoted to the friendly relationship between Greece and China, could you tell us what kind of organization the Greek-Chinese Economic Council is?

A: Greek-Chinese Economic Council (GCEC) is actually a very new organization, only one month old. It is a very mature decision from many people in Greece who are interested in the improvement of the Greek-Chinese economic and business relationship. The members of GCEC include many businessmen, academics in universities and some politicians--all dedicated to and oriented for the relations between People’s Republic of China and Greece. Here I must emphasize that GCEC is not oriented to the Greek-Chinese relationship but to the European Union-Chinese relationship. This is very serious because we are using Athens Greece as a gate of China to EU and more broadly the whole Europe.

Q: Athens is a tourist resort longed for by people all over the world. As the former Chairman of the Athens City’s Commission on Tourism Development and Promotion, could you introduce the tourism market of Athens to us?

A: It is no doubt that all European countries are very much interested in attracting Chinese citizens to visit their countries given it is the most efficient way (to improve the tourism business of their countries). Compared to tourists from other countries, Chinese tourists spend the biggest amount of money in the countries they are visiting. And we know that Chinese tourists are polite, nice and very easy to support. They usually don’t have huge demands—they just want to visit the place and to have a nice treatment. For this reason, recently in Greece, we try all the best to prepare the situation for the coming Chinese tourists. Now, we don’t have so many – about 50,000 (Chinese tourists) a year. But now, with the new policies applied in order to attract Chinese citizens, we are expecting quite many people from China to come to Greece. So we are preparing the tourism environment in Greece for more Chinese tourists, which means we need more Chinese-speaking people, hotels that serve—not only western cuisine—but also Chinese cuisine. For Chinese people may want to have their national food while travelling. It is our obligation to offer the Chinese tourists what they want, otherwise they would choose another place to visit. Another thing worth mentioning is that I always insist on the cooperation between the Greek and Chinese tourism sectors through the intervention and guidance of WTCF, which is the federation we belong to as the city of Athens, and on the platforms of WTCF which is based here in Beijing. In that way, I think we will achieve the best possible results.

Q: Besides its culture and architecture of a long history, how does Greece maintain its lasting and fresh charm for tourists?

A: With the new policies of Chinese government -- “One Belt, One Road”, especially the new silk road from China to Europe, we will have an extremely new and quite more attractive environment because of China’s presence in western European countries through organized intervention in different sectors: political sector, business and investment sector and tourism sector which interests us the most. Now in China, all the markets are oriented to the tourism in Europe so we must prepare for the best possible services in EU to welcome the Chinese tourists for the better development of political and economic relationships between China and EU. In Greece, we are trying our best to ensure the most amazing experiences the Chinese tourists can have here.

If they come here for 5 days, we want them to enjoy and benefit from the 5 days’ time to the maximum. So when they go back to China, they would say they are very happy and talk to their friends and families about it, which could be the best advertisement for the Greek tourism.

Q: How does Athens make it that people can enjoy modern and convenient life while the historical sites and culture are well protected? Could you share your experience with us?

A: I must say that the Chinese visitors coming to Greece know very well what they want – they want to see the culture, which is very good because both China and Greece are ancient civilized countries – one eastern, one western. They know they are interested in seeing the archeological places to understand the ancient and modern civilizations. From the other side, it is very interesting for the tourists to understand the modern life of Greece as one European country. We are working very hard to combine these two sectors: the ancient civilization—what the tourists need to learn about the history and ancient culture – and the modern culture. We are working as much as possible to take care of the situation (ancient restoration).

Q: Will Athens consider cooperating with Chinese cities or travel enterprises on tourism?

A: This is a very nice question. For Athens city, we are preparing the network cooperation between Athens and 11 of the main Chinese cities. We think of many common issues of Athens and 11 big Chinese cities, which are all ancient civilized cities. These 11 cities all have ancient origins and their own ancient civilizations, which means their citizens would be highly interested to come to Greece to learn about our ancient culture, the “parallel” civilization in ancient Greece. We are preparing the network between Athens and 11 big Chinese cities for exchanging tourism, for expanding tourism and for the promotion of tourism. We are ready to attract people from these ancient Chinese cities. We will be very happy if this can be a pilot program under the umbrella of WTCF. This could be a pilot program so that many membership cities of WTCF can cooperate among themselves and make tourism cooperation under the umbrella of WTCF.

Q: What do you think of Chinese outbound travel market? What is the present situation of Chinese tourists traveling in Greece or Athens?

A: Today, China is a great economic power worldwide and is improving day by day with very high standards and rate. This indicates that more and more Chinese citizens would have the economic possibility to travel abroad for their holidays, which means China is a very strong player in the international game of tourism. I think this is the main purpose of Beijing International Tourism Expo and the forum–China is preparing itself to go out, to send Chinese citizens to visit other countries. But this must be a highly organized work which requires serious planning and preparation. China has already started doing the work to prepare for the new steps. We are very happy that these events are happening here and very happy to support the planning and preparation of China and the Chinese tourists to come abroad.

Now, the majority of Chinese tourists traveling to Greece mostly stay in Athens. We think that it would be better if they choose to spend a few days in Athens and then go to other nice places, touristic sites or archeological places in Greece. Of course they should visit Athens because it was the center of ancient Greek civilization in Greece. But apart from that, Greece has a lot more to offer. Tourists can visit the ancient monuments in Athens and also go to other places, like the islands with beautiful sunshine and delicious seafood. As far as I have learned, Chinese tourists are very much interested in Greek cuisine and we do have a lot delicious and hygienic food to offer.

Q: Do you have any preferential policies to attract Chinese tourists?

A: Yes, of course. We welcome the Chinese tourists in every possible way. Apart from the above mentioned, we even prepare some specific places and activities for Chinese tourists. Many couples want to come to Greece to have their wedding accompanied by thousands of years of ancient Greek civilization next to the ancient monuments or near the seashore with sunshine and music while enjoying the more open and romantic atmosphere. We would try our best to organize the wedding they want for them so that when they come back, they will not only carry the lovely photos and videos but also the great memories and feelings to share with their friends and families.

Q: As the Deputy General Secretary of the World Tourism Cities Federation, do you have any suggestions or expectations for WTCF? Will you attend the WTCF Summit held in Morocco this September? What topics to be discussed at the forum of the summit are you interested in?

A: I think WTCF is a great organization and it was a very clever idea to create this organization. It offers a platform for all the tourism cities and tourism-related companies worldwide to sit together to discuss and solve the problems and put up new standards of tourism, like the forum we have today. I am sure that WTCF will come up with more wise interventions of tourism in the future, especially between China and Europe. I always attend the WTCF Summit and try my best to play an important role in it. The WTCF Summit is a very interesting and influential converse and that is why thousands of people attend the converse each year. This year’s topics are very interesting. We are discussing “One Belt, One Road” and the new Sea Silk Road from China to Europe. As Greece being the gate of this new Sea Silk Road, of course we are very interested in this discussion.

Q: In the future, will the organizations you serve in like Athens City’s Commission on Tourism Development and Promotion, and the Greek-Chinese Economic Council try to cooperate with WTCF?

A: Of course. The GCEC serves as an umbrella of all the activities running in Greece concerning the economic and business cooperation between China and Greece. So we are very much interested and oriented to serve this policy – the creation of the best possible relation between China and Greece under the new policies of the new Sea Silk Road.

Photos / Quanjing