Action Plan

Tourism Development and Promotion

We are investing in actions which will strengthen the existing tourism infrastructure, convey a unified and competitive identity for Athens, and promote the city abroad. Our goal is to portray all that Athens has to offer to as many people as possible.

Activities

Βreathtaking Athens
In order to be promoted effectively, every tourism destination needs a motto; a message which will reflect the desired image of the destination and will add value to its promoters' activities. For this reason, ATEDCo has decided to create the identity "Breathtaking Athens", which is used for all visual communication and all activities to promote Athens.

Promotional Material

As part of a long-term campaign to promote Athens, ATEDCo has published, and will continue to produce, material which promotes the image of Athens as a contemporary European capital city, with a plethora of choices and events, making it a suitable tourist destination year on year. The material is distributed through our three info-points, at conventions which take place in Athens, at international tourism fairs, in tourist offices and in hotels on request.

Public Relations

ATEDCo is in close contact with the media and is constantly supplying it with news and facts about Athens. This has created a stream of positive articles in publications such as Forbes Traveler, Conde Nast Traveller and the International Herald Tribune, as well as promoting Athens and ATEDCo's activities on ERT's digital television channel and on international television networks such as the BBC and the Travel Channel. To date, ATEDCo has responded to around 100 requests from journalists.

Tourism Fairs

Participation in international tourism and conference fairs is an important activity for any organisation which is active in promoting a destination. For this reason, ATEDCo has been present at illustrious and prestigious international events such as WTM, ITB, EIBTM and IMEX, promoting Athens as a tourism product to both travel agents and journalists.

Website
According to international practices, the official tourist agency of a destination is the first place a visitor goes for information. To ensure this information is always reliable and useful, ATEDCo has created two modern, stylish and functional web portals, pledging to provide visitors with accurate and objective information about the services which will meet their needs. www.breathtakingathens.com & www.athensconventionbureau.gr. Both portals have been strengthening the contemporary and alternative image of the city abroad through the use of modern marketing methods and new communication media (facebook, tweeter, flickr and YouTube) where the city already has fan pages with thousands of members throughout the world.

Info Points
In order to keep visitors better informed, ATEDCo has planned a series of information points, where visitors can receive information from specially trained personnel and leaflets about all Athens has to offer as a tourism destination. The information point has opened in autumn 2008 at the Athens International Airport. Two new Info-Points are also open to the public at the center of Athens, on Amalias Av and D. Areopagitou conjunction and the port of Piraeus at OLP. In addition to information, Greek and foreign visitors to Athens are able to purchase from the Info-Point at the center of Athens and "Papasotiriou" store at the A.I.A a collection of tourist products focusing on the city at the official tourist shop, called "Breathtaking Athens".

Studies & Research

In 2008, ATEDCo in collaboration with the Tourism Research and Study Institute of the University of the Aegean's Business Administration Department, prepared a study entitled: Constitutional Study of Athenian Tourism - from the Pre-Olympic to the Post-Olympic Period: The effect of the Olympic Games on the existing situation, priority strategies, prospects and challenges, and actions to be taken in the next 5 years (2008-2012). In 2010, it was released the updated version of the study entitled "Study on the Progress and Prospects of Tourism in Athens and Attica".

The aim of this study is to create an initial, well-documented record of the progress of Athenian tourism, which will operate as a starting point and as the base for the City of Athens tourism watchdog. It will also highlight the challenges and make suggestions about the next steps for developing, managing and promoting tourism in Athens over the coming years.

Collaboration
As gathering knowledge and information from domestic and international tourism agencies is an essential tool for ATEDCo to correctly plan its strategies and actions, as well as to improve the position of Athens in the international tourism market, it has joined international tourism organisations such as ICCA, WTO, DMAI and ECM in order to gather technical knowledge in the areas of developing, managing and promoting tourism and convention products. As part of the same process, ATEDCo has developed close partnerships with all domestic tourism organisations to better project and promote Athens.

Convention and Event Tourism
Developing convention and business tourism is an immediate priority. The Athens Convention Bureau (ACB) was founded for this purpose, and operates according to the standards of similar offices abroad.

As an integral but separate section of ATEDCo, the ACB's primary aims are:

to promote Athens as a destination for conventions;

to attract international conventions, company meetings and all other types of organisation or events of international interest to Athens;

to serve the needs of meeting planners and all other interested parties (RFPs) meticulously, quickly and responsibly;

to show the particular importance of conventions on the city's economy, and to evaluate their impact with documentary evidence.