EOT at ITB China 2025 - Promotional actions in the Chinese market

With strategic representation and combining tourism promotion with trade meetings, local extroversion, and academic and cultural diplomacy, the participation of the Greek National Tourism Organization in the International Tourism Fair ITB China 2025, organized in Shanghai from May 27 to 29, was completed.

During the exhibition, the head of the Greek National Tourism Organization China Service, Pavlos Mourmas, held more than 60 meetings at the Greek pavilion with representatives from travel agencies, media and social media platforms in China, during which the possibilities of further promoting the already popular and new Greek destinations in the Chinese market following the launch of direct flights by Juneyao from Shanghai to Athens, as well as cooperation in joint advertising programs and promotional events were examined.

Furthermore, at a special event at Hellas House, Mr. Mourmas presented to executives of the Chinese tourism market the diversity of the Greek product, emphasizing the thematic forms of tourism of our country in various destinations (thermal springs, golf, geoparks, casinos, ski resorts, medical tourism, etc.), which can be combined to create new tourism products targeting respective market segments.

At the reception that followed at the same venue, Mr. Mourmas and the Mayor of Athens, Haris Doukas, had meetings with the participants in which the prospects for expanding synergies between the two sides were discussed, as well as the organization of familiarization trips to Greece.

The Greek Participation

The co-exhibitors at the Greek pavilion were the Region of Attica, the Region of Central Macedonia through the Regional Units of Serres and Pella, and the Thessaloniki Tourism Organization (TTH), the This is Athens Organization, Athens International Airport, HATTA, and tourist agencies.

Also present at the exhibition were the Governor of Attica, Nikos Hardalias, the Consul General of Greece in Shanghai, Georgios Partheniou, the Commercial Attaché, Spyros Liontos, and the Head of the Public Diplomacy Office, Dimitris Foukis.

Athens, Attica, Athens Airport, and Central Macedonia presented their own strong identities, serving supra-local goals for development and international promotion, while participating DMCs expressed keen interest in new partnerships and promoting new destinations by creating renewed holiday “packages” for Chinese visitors.

ITB China 2025 in numbers

ITB China 2025, the leading B2B trade fair dedicated to the Chinese travel market, saw a 30% increase in net exhibition area and a 35% increase in the number of participants this year compared to 2024. Specifically, it hosted over 700 exhibitors from 85 countries and a total of more than 20,500 participants, including 1,400 high-quality buyers and around 280 representatives from Chinese SMEs, while 38,800 business meetings were held during the exhibition, reflecting the growing demand and global interest in China's travel market.