Valentini Amarantidou - Partner & Director of Development, Artion Conferences & Events

 

The MICE Industry – Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Events – is a well respected segment within the total tourism of any country. Great Investments have been made over the past thirty years at national, regional or city levels global-wide, to attract MICE business into one’s destination. Investment in infrastructure, such as convention centers, convention hotels, event and exhibition halls as well as airports and transportation hubs of large scale have been constructed in many cities.

Dedicated Marketing Teams have been created and financed to run promotion strategies globally to attract international conferences, meetings and events in any destination.

The industry of the Convention Bureaus over these last couple of decades has grown considerably; Convention Bureaus are service points of a destination facilitating incoming interest for MICE; they also dynamically bid abroad to welcome such business.

The MICE industry has been literally paused for 12 months now due to the pandemic.

Expectations see a total of 20 month inactivity in physical meetings. Within this frame and with no money flow, investment can only be expected from the public sector.

Greece badly needs convention centers of international standards. Without this infrastructure we are limiting our potential to bid for large scale pieces of business.

Meetings will not stop. Their format may change and the return to “normality” will take some time; we estimate this time to be the year 2024. We expect a V shape demand for meetings in the next couple of years. Greece is a popular destination and a good marketing strategy of the past years has helped as stay at the forefront of preferred destinations.

Investment is expected to grow in the two largest cities, namely Athens and Thessaloniki. The largest islands of the country, such as Crete & Rhodes may enjoy attention as they combine a number of advantages for an international organiser.

The future landscape of the MICE industry demands technology advanced structures and modern ergonomic architecture that is well adapted to the natural environment of the country. We look forward and prepare for the future with a positive mindset and a great belief in the power of the MICE industry.

 

Get our white paper free!

WHITE PAPER DOWNLOAD

Send download link to:

I confirm that I have read and agree to the Personal Data Consent.