With expanded participation and an impressive stand, the Hellenic National Tourism Organization participated again this year (September 23-25, 2025) in the IFTM – Top Resa 2025 exhibition in Paris.
The exhibition was visited by the Secretary General of the Hellenic National Tourism Organization, Andreas Fiorentinos, and he had a series of meetings and constructive collaborations with representatives of specialized Tour Operators to whom he presented the achievements of Greek tourism, the new tourist products and the priorities of the Organization for the promotion of major destinations, such as Thessaloniki.
Specifically, Mr. Fiorentinos, accompanied by the Director of the Hellenic National Tourism Organization Office France Emys Anagnostopoulou, met with senior executives of the specialist Tour Operators NG Travel, Vacances Héliades, Last Minute and Havas Voyages, as well as the most important luxury tourism OTA Voyage Privé, conducting an assessment of this year’s season so far and the co-advertising programs implemented with them in the French market until October 2025. He also analyzed the priorities of the GNTO strategy 2026 -2027 and the axes of cooperation for the new year, with the aim of strengthening and qualitatively upgrading tourist flows.
In this context, the G.S. of the GNTO emphasized to his interlocutors that it is a major priority for the Greek National Tourism Organization to establish Thessaloniki as an ideal long city break destination in the French market and received commitments from all the T.O.s to create packages and add charter flights from Paris, Nantes and Lyon to Thessaloniki in the two years 2026-2027.
Mr. Fiorentinos praised the result of the cooperation between the Greek National Tourism Organization Office in France and Transavia and the success of expanding the flight schedule of the French airline throughout the year to Thessaloniki.
At the same time, the prospects for air access to other destinations in the country, which are suitable for experiential and wellness tourism, such as the trails of the Peloponnese, were discussed, while ways of cooperation were explored to highlight the comparative advantages of the Greek tourism product, both with upcoming co-advertising programs and familiarization trips for agents and journalists.
Mr. Fiorentinos granted an interview to the prestigious pan-European news channel Euronews, as well as to the leading television channel in the Middle East, Dubai TV, in which he underlined the importance of the United Arab Emirates for our country, as well as the support by the Greek National Tourism Organization of the direct Emirates Airlines Dubai-Athens flight, which operates as a hub for Asia and Australia.
Finally, the Secretary General of the Greek National Tourism Organization met with the GNTO co-exhibitors at IFTM Top Resa, including the Regions of Attica, Crete, Ionian Islands, Peloponnese, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Thessaly, Epirus, North Aegean, Central Macedonia, Western Macedonia, as well as with representatives of many Municipalities and islands for the further consolidation of Greek destinations in the French market.
France is for our country the fourth most important tourist market worldwide in terms of tourist flows and is moving with increasing trends for 2025, in terms of tourist receipts. This results from estimates by French tourist agents, as well as data from the Bank of Greece, with the messages being particularly encouraging for 2026 as well.
