Welcome address: 10:15 – 10:30
- Dr Kyriakos Pozrikidis, CEO TIF-HELEXPO SA
- Kalliopi Vetta, Member of Parliament – Head of the Tourism Sector of the Major opposition Party “SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance”
- Katerina Spyridaki, Member of Parliament – Head of the Tourism Sector of the opposition Party “PASOK- Movement for Change”
First session - 10:30 – 11:30
What is "Overtourism" and how it is treated.
Prof. Mariela Modeva
Advistor to the Minister of Tourism of Bulgaria (tbc)
Deputy Minister of Tourism in the 99th, 100th, 101st Government of the Republic of Bulgaria. She is currently an advisor to the Minister of Tourism. Professor of public communications and information sciences, holds a doctorate degree. Manager and leading researcher on specialized tourism issues in national and international projects. She is the author of over 100 publications. Published in scientific publications, referenced and indexed in international databases. Member of the International Scientific Committee on Cultural Tourism of ICOMOS International. Winner of the National Honorary Award for a person with overall contribution to the development of cultural tourism for 2023. The award is presented for the first time to a representative of a state institution. She speaks English and Russian, uses Spanish and Italian.
Voula Patoulidou
Deputy Regional Governor of Thessaloniki
Paraskevi Patoulidou is the Vice Governor of the Metropolitan Area of Thessaloniki, the President of Thessaloniki Tourism Organization, President of Moni Lazariston, President of the Organization Committee of International Marathon “Alexander the Great”. She was awarded from Mr. Konstantinos Karamanlis, President of the Greek Republic with the Gold Cross of the order of Honor and from UNESCO for her contribution in Greece and sports. She is also Ambassador of the European Commision’s Program “EDEN”.
Sports Awards:
- Gold Medalist in 100 meters hurdles in the Olympic Games of Barcelona, in 1992.
- Nine times Greek National Athlete
- Seven times Balkan Athlete
- Three times Mediterranean Athlete
- In 1990 and in 1992 she was elected as top athlete of Greece by Panhellenic Association of Sports Press
Special Collaborations, Organizations, Associations and Committees:
- Special Counselor in issues of athletes for the Ministry of Sports, at General Secretariat of Sports.
- Member of the Greek Olympians Association
- Founding Member of World Olympians Association
- She was a member of Hellenic Olympic Committee and President of the Committee “Woman and Sports”
- President of the Organizational committee of the 1st World Congress of Olympians
- She was a President of the Olympians Committee of Ministry of Culture.
- Member of the committee of Assembly, Preservation and Promotion of Olympism, of Ministry of Culture.
- Officer in the Navy (1992-2006).
- Head of the department of Promoting Voluntarism at Greek Red Cross.
- She was awarded from over forty Mayors with the Gold Key of their city.
Dimitrios Bouchalis
Professor at Burnemouth University
Professor Dimitrios Buhalis is Director of the eTourism Lab and Deputy Director of the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality Research, at Bournemouth University Business School in England. He is a Strategic Management and Marketing expert with specialisation in Information Communication Technology applications in the Tourism, Travel, Hospitality and Leisure industries. He is the Editor in Chief of Tourism Review and the Editor in Chief of the Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing. Professor Buhalis has written and co-edited more than 30 books and 400 scientific articles. Professor Dimitrios Buhalis was recognised as a Highly Cited Researcher 2020, 2021 and 2022 by Clarivate™. He is featured in the Stanford University’s database of the world’s top 2% of scientists and was ranked #859 (for 2022) and #6465 (throughout his career) in the world, out of 204,644 researchers in all disciplines Using Scopus Data. He is the 3rd most cited for tourism, 2nd most cited for hospitality, 10th on strategy, and 29th in Marketing on Google Scholar with more than 65500 citations and h-index 111. He was also ranked #5 in the UK and #46 in the world in the Business and Management Scientists list by Research.com. Dimitrios’ current research focus includes: Artificial Intelligence and Metaverse, Real-Time and Nowness, Smart Tourism and Smart Hospitality, Social Media Context and Mobile Marketing (SoCoMo), Augmented Reality, Technology-enhanced Experience Management and Personalisation, Reputation and Social Media Strategies, Accessibility and Special Diet (Allergens) Tourism. Professor Buhalis is an inspirational forward thinker that undertakes cutting-edge research, develops innovations and makes a major impact on global society. He works closely with the international tourism industry and is supporting tourism and hospitality organisations around the world with strategic marketing innovations using cutting-edge technologies. Dimitrios works closely with United Nations World Tourism Organisation and the World Bank to ensure that his innovative research has relevance and impact to global communities. For more information, books, articles and presentations see www.buhalis.com
Alexandros Thanos
Executive Director of the the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE)
I was born in Thessaloniki. I am a graduate of the Department of Theology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and hold a Master’s Degree in Sociology. I am also a graduate of the University of Macedonia in Business Administration and hold an MBA in Business Administration from Kingston University, specializing in Strategic Company Development. I worked in the private sector, in the banking sector. I served as the Regional Adviser of Central Macedonia in matters of education, development and environment as well as European programs during the years 2011 – 2016. From 2016-2019 I was the Deputy Governor of Tourism and Culture of Central Macedonia. From 2019 until 2021 I was the Head of Tourism sector of the Region of Central Macedonia. From 2022 until 2023 I was Deputy Governor for tourism in the region of Central Macedonia. From 2023 until now I am executive director of SETE.
Marina Spyridaki
Corporate Affairs Manager at Aegean Airlines
Angeliki Maragkaki
Autonomous Department of Monitoring and Development of Resources, Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development (H.O.C.RE.D.)
Angeliki Maragaki is a graduate from the Athens University of Economics and Business (ex ASOEE) and holds a Master’s Degree (Msc) in International Economics and Finance. From 2000 – 2021 she worked at the Ministry of Culture joining at first, the Special Secretariat for European Programs and then the Administrative Authority for the maturation, integration and monitoring of Actions, mainly in New Technologies, of the EU Structural Funds, the preparation of the Public Investment Programs and the Financing of Public Projects. Between 2012 and 2014, among other duties she was also head for the NSRF projects for the Museum of Modern Greek Culture.
In July 2021, she joined Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development (HOCRED) in the operations aiming to generate revenue for the field of Culture, through the upgrade of the services provided to visitors and the simplification of the licensing procedures for the use and reuse of the cultural assets. In April 2023, she took on additional parallel duties as Head of the Cultural Production, Sales & Promotion Department of HOCRED with the aim of enriching the collection of HOCRED’ s model library and safeguarding the high masterpieces of the museums as well as reorganizing and promoting the stores of the Archaeological Sites and Museums.
Moderator
Dr. Evangelos Christou
International Hellenic University
Evangelos Christou is Professor of Tourism Marketing and Director of “TourLab” Research Laboratory at the International Hellenic University, in Greece. He was educated in Britain and he has a Doctorate in Heritage Tourism Marketing from Aberystwyth University in Wales and a Master’s in Business Administration from the same university, a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from Leicester University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and a Bachelor of Arts in Hospitality Management from Anglia Ruskin University. He is the Director of the Master Program in Tourism Management at the International Hellenic University. His research and consulting interests include image and branding of tourism destinations, as well as heritage tourism and e-marketing. He has extensive research and consulting experience in Greece, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. He has long academic experience both in Greece (at the University of the Aegean, the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and the Democritus University of Thrace) and abroad (at the University of Bolzano in Italy, at Universite de Lyon ΙΙΙ and at Institut Paul Bocuse in France and at National Chia-Yi University of Taiwan among others). His published and research work includes over 120 refereed journal and conference papers, 9 books and participation in 34 national and international research projects related to tourism marketing. His publications have been cited in more than 4.900 papers by other authors and he is Editor-in-Chief of the “Journal of Tourism, Heritage & Services Marketing”. He has served as President of EuroCHRIE (European Council on Hotel, Restaurant & Institutional Education). He has received awards by the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization, as well as the EuroCHRIE’s Life-Achievement award.
