Greece aiming to be amid top 5 European destinations for Indians

In order to draw on the outbound Indian travel division, Greece is aspiring to establish itself as one of the best 5 destinations in Europe and promote the nation as a holiday spot that could be visited throughout the year.

"India is an important market for us, therefore, we decided to foray into the country to tap the growing affluent and the outbound travel segment. We want to position Greece in the top 5 list of European destinations that every Indian would want to visit," stated Elena Kountoura, the Tourism Minister for Greece, to the PTI.

She also said that in 2016, about 70,000 Indian nationals had visited Greece via Europe.

"Our strategy is to promote 365-day tourism in Greece and we are confident that we will see a boost in the number of Indian arrivals with our initiatives. Our target is to double the 2016s arrivals by 2018," she further added.

The GNTO or Greek National Tourism Organization is aiming at creating awareness regarding the lesser known Greek cities that have significant cultural, historical and geophysical importance & interest in India.

Kountoura stated that Greece is contemplating on pursuing affluent Indian nationals this year, by means of a well strategized advertising and marketing campaign.

GNTO is aiming to promote this southeast European nation as a “go-to” destination for families, weddings, honeymoons, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events), FITS (first time travellers segment) and movies.

"Many of the Bollywood and regional films from India have captured the scenic beauty of Greece in celluloid and we want to further strengthen this segment. As we all know one picture is worth a thousand words and we want to promote many more unseen destinations for film shoots," Kountoura added.