M.Sc in Marketing Management

INDEPENDENT STUDΥ

“Athens as an international tourism

destination: An empirical investigation to

the city’s imagery and the role of local

DMO’s.”

SPYROS LANGOS

ID: 100285557

Supervisor: Mr. George Roumeliotis

Athens, September 2014

Academic Year 2013 – 2014

“Athens as an international tourism destination: An empirical

investigation to the city’s imagery and the role of local DMO’s.”

The aim of this project was to identify the role of DMOs in promoting Athens

as a tourist destination, as well as to evaluate their effectiveness in terms of

marketing and managing the tourist product of Athens, its popularity and

imagery.

“ Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.”

Gustave Flaubert

CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS

4.1 Introduction

This chapter contains the analysis of findings. More specifically, in this

chapter the author presents the profile of the participants, the characteristics

of Athens as a tourist destination, the activities performed by the DMOs for

promoting Athens as a tourist destination, the future plans of the DMOs for

promoting Athens, the main problems of the destination of Athens and the role

of the DMOs for addressing these problems and finally, the relationships of

Greek DMOs with other stakeholders of the tourism industry.

In the end of the chapter there is a table which summarizes the key findings of

the analysis.

4.2 Profile of the interviewees

Table 4.1 illustrates the age of the participants. As it is presented below, one

executive was aged between 25 and 30 years old, 3 were 31-40 years old and

two were 41-55 years old.

Table 4.1: Age range of the participant

Age group Number of respondents Percentage (%)

25 – 30 1 17

31 – 40 3 50

41 – 55 2 33

Total number of

respondents

6 100

Moreover, it should be noted that:

Four of the participants were males and two were females

Three participants had a bachelor degree and three had obtained also

a Master Degree

Three of the participants had more than 10 years of working

experience in the tourism industry.

Finally, it should be noted that responses were not indicated differences

according to the gender, the education level and the years of working

experience of the participants.

4.3 The characteristics of Athens as a tourist destination

First of all, respondents said that Greece in general terms is a popular

destination in the global tourism market with many growth prospects.

Regarding the nationalities of the tourists who visit Greece, the managers said

that the majority of the visitors are Germans, followed by Englishmen, French,

Russians, etc. Generally, the tourists who are visiting Greece are coming from

several countries revealing the international identity of the country’s

destinations. However, visitors from Europe are by far the majority.

The main reasons which lead tourist in visiting Greece are the natural beauty,

the clean seas, the sunlight and the historical monuments and archaeological

sites of the country. However, the majority of the respondents stated that

Greece is positioned in the tourism markets as a summer destination where

tourist can relax in the beaches, and not as a destination which can offer to

visitors cultural experiences. Only in the last years, DMOs are trying to

change the position of Greece to a destination which can offer high level

cultural tourism. Lastly, participants mentioned that Greece for the moment

has limited congress tourism initiatives. Nevertheless, in the future there is

room for growth in the certain field which requires the essential contribution of

the DMOs.

The following statements are representative:

“Yes I think Greece has become a popular destination. We have a long way to

go for establishing Greece as a top destination in the global market but I think

that we are in the right on track!”…”Regarding the nationalities of the tourist

that you asked me before, we have a lot of tourist from Germany, UK, France,

Italy, and from other countries as well. The majority of them are coming from

Europe but now we are also expanding in other markets” (interviewee 2).

And interviewee 4 added:

“Listen Greece is marketed as place that the tourist can come and relax, enjoy

the sea, the sun, etc. I want to say that we are not promoting efficiently the

history and the culture of the country. We are positioned as a summer

destination and to be deadly honest with you DMOs have increased share of

responsibility for this situation. We must reveal the other advantages of

Greece which are related with the history and the culture –modern and

ancient- of the country. For example, the majority of the tourists who are going

to the islands are not visiting the museums because they have limited

information about them. Anyway, for the moment I think the core touristic

product of the country has to do with the sea and the sun…”

Regarding Athens, the managers agreed that after the appearance of the

financial crisis the capital of Greece as a tourism destination experienced a

continuous decline in the tourist demand. The decrease stopped in 2012 and

in 2013 and 2014 the tourist arrivals started again to increase. 2014 seems to

be a year with many prospects but still it is not able to cover the loss of the

previous years. According to the executives of the DMOs, the average stay

per guest in Athens is approximately 2 nights, whereas the occupancy of the

Hotels in Athens in 2013 was close to 50 % illustrating an increase of 5 %

compared with 2012 but a decline of 25 % compared with 2008.

The average price of hotel rooms in Athens in 2013 was approximately 70

Euros and the revenue per available room 45 Euros. Both these two indexes

presented serious decline from 2008 indicating that the recession impacted

seriously the revenues from tourism in Athens. Nevertheless, it was stated

that Athens as a destination started to recover and has the potential to bring

enough income in the future:

“Oh Yes! The crisis influenced intensively our business. The crisis started in

2008. After 2008 the occupancy in the hotels, the arrivals of tourists, the

revenues from the rooms started to decline. We lost a lot of income due to

recession. It was a very difficult period, it still is but after 2012 the touristic

market of Athens started to grow. I hope that in the near future Athens will

boost its brand image and we will cover the losses from the previous years.

The crisis is still here but now we have a more stable environment than 2010

or 2011. Anyway, tourism may help us to recover from the crisis as well”

(interviewee 1)

Respondents also said that Athens in most of the cases is used by tourists as

a stopover in their way for the islands. Therefore, visitors spend one or two

nights in Athens and then they continue their trip to the Greek islands.

The main activity from tourists in Athens is a visit to the Acropolis and the

Parthenon, as well as in the Acropolis museum. Other popular activities of

tourist in Athens are a walk in the city center, shopping, and a visit in the

national archeological museum. It is indicative that the vast majority of the

tourists are not visiting any theater, cinema, cultural exhibition, music show

etc. neither go to the beaches which are close to the city. The managers who

participated in the study said that most of the tourists are not informed

regarding the events which are running in the city. Three of the participants

denoted that the main reason that dissuades visitors from participating in local

cultural events such as theaters, music concerts, etc, is the language.

Most of these events are in the Greek language which is not understandable

by tourists.

Finally, the discussions revealed that the local stakeholders of tourism are not

promoting efficiently the activities that the tourists can enjoy, therefore their

participation in other actions is limited.

“Athens is a strange story. Most of the tourists come to Athens for one or two

nights and then they go the Greek Islands. I want to say that they are not

staying in Athens. They just pass by and this is a serious problem for our

business. We must develop a touristic offer which will keep the visitor in

Athens for more than 5 days” (interviewee 6)

And interviewee 5 added:

“Most of the visitors go to the Acropolis, and to the Acropolis museum.

Then they will visit the center of the city for shopping, drink a coffee etc.

But I think one of the major problems which make tourists not to go to

theaters, local music concerts, cultural exhibitions is the language. In London

tourist can go to the theater and understand the performance because English

is an international language. Greek is not, hence we exclude tourists from

participating in numerous cultural activities. On the other hand, it is true that

the local actors are not promoting efficiently alternative activities for tourists.

We need to work on these issues…”

4.4 DMOs activities for promoting Athens as a destination

The DMOs have performed several activities in a regular basis for promoting

Athens as a tourist destination. The most active DMO is the Greek National

Tourism Organization (GNTO) which is responsible for promoting the tourism

in Greece exploiting the full potential of the country. Other DMOs which also

play a crucial role in the promotion of Athens are the Association of Greek

Tourism Enterprises, the Athens Development and Destination Management

Agency, and the Athens Hotel Association - Attica (EXAA),

The main activities which were performed by DMOs for promoting Athens as a

tourist destinations are: 1) promotion through publications and audiovisual

media, 2) participation of DMOs in international tourism fairs, 3) creation of

audiovisual productions with the title “You in Athens”, 4) creation of network

synergies with airline companies, and DMOs from other countries,

5) joint promotion activities with Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air - which are

Greek airline companies, 6) online promotion activities and creation of online

portals which promote the touristic activities in Athens, 7) development of a

membership program for firms which are operating in the tourism sector in

Athens, 8) creation of promotional products such as umbrellas, bags, blocks,

postcards and other souvenirs, and 9) conduction of market research studies

for evaluating the current activities and designing future actions.

First of all, DMOs publish touristic material such as tourist guides for Athens,

thematic brochures, maps, special editions (albums, anniversary editions,

series posters, etc.). The majority of the published material includes high-

quality photographs, and translations from texts of famous Greek authors.

Additionally, the participants said that their organization also use audiovisual

material such as videos, visualized presentations and documentaries for

promoting the destination of Athens.

It is interesting to note that DMOs such as the Athens Convention & Visitors

Bureau (ACVB) have produced printed promotional material for Athens as a

destination City Break, thematic forms (Sightseeing, 1-2-3 days in Athens,

lifestyle, Blue and Daytrips), visitor guides and maps, which have been

distributed to more than 150,000 tourists. In the same spirit a video with the

title “You in Athens” was created by the GNTO which contained the

experiences of tourists who had already visited Athens. The aim of the video

was to attract more visitors to the city.

For example interviewee 1 said: “We made a lot of things for promoting

Athens. Firstly, we are trying every year to publish high quality tourist guides

and maps that will help visitors to navigate Athens. Second we made the

video “You in Athens “. The concept was to produce a video with the

experiences of tourist who had already visited Athens. We focused in Athens

because we believe that it can become a popular tourist destination. We don’t

want tourists consider Athens as a stopover on their way to the islands, but as

a unique tourist destination”

And interviewee 3 stated: “We focus exclusively in Athens and for that

reason we create a promotional material which position Athens as the ideal

destination for a City break. We also produced visitor guides which are

adjusted to the length of stay of the tourists. For example, we have

propositions for visitors who are planning to stay one day, two days or three

days respectively. I want also to say that it was a great success for our

organization that we managed to distribute our promotion material in more

than 150,000 tourists, and the feedback that we received was quite

encouraging”

Moreover, several DMOs are participating in international tourism exhibitions

for promoting Athens. The most representative of these fairs are the ITB, the

World Travel Market (WTM), the IMEX and EIVTM. DMOs are also

participating in hold meetings with hosted buyers and trade visitors and

distribute large volumes of information material for Athens and its touristic

services. In these exhibitions, the managers of the DMOs have the

opportunity to meet organizers of conferences and events, incentive travel

organizers, representatives of international agencies and organizations,

journalists and representatives of specialized media, members of international

organizations and networks market, etc.

Besides, DMOs have establish international collaborations with airline

companies, the World Tourism Organization, (UNWTO), the International

Destination Marketing Association, the European Economic and Social

Committee (EESC), the Organization for Economic Cooperation &

Development (OECD) the World Youth & Student Travel Confederation,

cultural organizations, museums and institutions in the field of communication

for promoting Athens in the global tourist market. Finally, the executives who

are working in three DMOs stated that their organizations conduct market

studies for measuring the satisfaction of the tourists who have visited Athens,

as well as investigate the trends in the international tourist market.

It should be noted that these studies demand the cooperation of Universities

with other research institutes:

“One of our major tasks for promoting Athens is the partnerships with other

International Organizations such as the UNWTO, the International Destination

Marketing Association the Organization for Economic Cooperation &

Development (OECD), etc. As every market, the tourism market has also its

lobbies. You must develop relationships with all these institutions for

promoting successfully a destination. In these organizations there are people

who formulate the trends in the global tourism market and we are trying to

have an intimate contact with them” (interviewee 4)

Regarding the market segments, most DMOs were focusing in the markets of

Germany, UK, France, Holland, Italy, USA, Russia, Balkans and Israel.

In the last year some DMOs also attempted to approach tourists from China,

India and South Asia and this effort is expected to expand in the near future.

In terms of the type of tourism, the respondents claimed that for the moment

DMOs focus in seaside leisure tourism and convention tourism.

There is not a coordinated effort for the promotion of other types of tourism

and for that reason, few of the managers stated that this should be the plan

for the future (see next paragraph).

“To be honest with you, for the moment we focus only in seaside leisure

tourism and congress tourism in Athens. We must develop our offering and

include other forms of tourism because Athens provides several opportunities.

For example, we can develop health tourism or cultural tourism activities”.

(Interviewee 2)

4.5 DMO future plans for promoting the destination of Athens

The discussions also revealed that the DMOs have several plans for

enhancing the destination of Athens in the future. As it was mentioned by two

participants, the aim of the DMOs is to establish Athens as one of the top

European destinations. First of all, the participant who was working in the

GNTO said that the communication strategy for Athens in the next years will

be based in five modules which represent the key sectors of the Greek

Tourism. These sectors are: 1) cultural tourism, 2) health tourism,

3) luxury tourism, 4) city break tourism, and 5) convention tourism. It is

indicative that the mission of the DMOs is to enhance the tourism in the main

cities of Greece and especially in Athens. The reason is that Athens is a

modern city with unique cultural interest which can contribute substantially in

the increase of the tourist revenues.

For example, interviewee 3 stated:

“I think Athens can become a great destination in the future. I will be very

happy if Athens will compete on an equal footing London, Paris and all the

other top European destination. Athens had the potential, why not?

I mean a tourist in Athens can see the Acropolis and the Parthenon, the great

museums of the city and also go to the beach, enjoy the good weather etc.

But our main target is to increase the residence time of the tourists in the city.

Anyway, I want to say that we are starting to focus in the boost of the city-

tourism and especially in the tourism in Athens!”

In agreement interviewee 6 said:

“We will focus in Athens in the future and the main reason is that the city can

increase importantly the profitability of the tourism income”

Other activities which were mentioned by respondents for enhancing the

brand name of Athens and for promoting the five types of tourism mentioned

before were: 1) development of a communication campaign which will focus in

the maximization of the marketing effectiveness, 2) continue to cooperate with

tour operators, travel agents, foreign DMOs, or offices of Greek DMOs in

foreign countries, 3) development of a core communication strategy for the

city which will also contain advertising campaigns in the foreign media,

4) increased participation in international tourism fairs, 5) sponsorships in

selected events in Greece and abroad, 6) opening in new markets and

7) promotion of domestic tourism.

It should be mentioned that the participants emphasized intensively in the

importance of the opening in new markets. More specifically, the majority of

the managers stated that the DMOs in the future should promote Athens in

the tourist markets of China, Russia, Turkey and USA.

In the same length, two respondents claimed that Brazil and India are also

two key markets in which Greece should obvert. The main argument was that

in these countries the global economic changes have created social classes

that are particularly wealthy. The members of these classes have started to

travel in other countries for relaxation constituting very important tourist

markets. Therefore, the Greek DMOs should focus in these new markets for

enchasing the brand image of Athens.

For example interviewee 5 stated:

“You know, the world is always changing and offers new opportunities for

tourism development. In this perspective, we must focus in new markets. We

always need to search for new markets but know we have numerous

opportunities. I mean that in the future we will target tourists from Russia and

China. These countries are huge tourist markets for us. Most of the tourists

who are coming from these countries want to visit Athens because is a

symbol for the Western civilization. So, there is room for future growth…”

Concurring, interviewee 4 said:

“Apart from Germany, UK and the other European markets, we must promote

Athens in China, Turkey, Russia and USA. India is also a good opportunity

and Brazil as well! Anyway, we plan to promote Athens in China and Russia in

the next three years and I have a feeling that these campaigns will be very

successful.”

4.6 Main Problems of Athens and the role of DMOs

The interviews with the executives of DMOs also indicated that Athens faces

numerous problems which hinder its tourism development.

To begin with, participants stated that the economic recession caused several

problems to tourism enterprises which influenced negatively the

competitiveness of Athens as a tourist destination. Firstly, tourism companies

such as hotels, tour operators, restaurants, coffee shops, etc have to face a

very high taxation. High taxes affect their profitability and their intention to

invest in the improvement of their services. The Greek government after the

appearance of the crisis in 2008 imposed strict taxation for increasing public

revenues. This new taxation in many cases had a negative impact on

businesses.

Furthermore, the Value Added Tax (VAT) in Greece is relatively high (23 %)

and this makes Athens an expensive destination. The VAT increases the

prices in several other supplementary services of the tourism industry.

Likewise, respondents said that one other critical problem was that after 2008

the economic and political environment in Greece was unstable deterring

tourists from coming to Athens. After 2013 the situation seems to stabilize

showing the first signs of recovery for the Greek economy. The statements

presented below are representative of the findings mentioned above:

“In Greece we don’t have a fair tax system. Before the crisis the tax system

was quite unclear and after the crisis it became very strict. As you can

understand this is not good for businesses. The strict taxation was quite unfair

in most of the cases and impacted the profitability of the companies.

The limited profitability results in fewer jobs, less investment capabilities etc.

It’s very difficult for firms to operate in the Greek economic environment.

We need a more clear and fair tax systems without severe penalties -

especially for minor offenses” (interviewee 5)

And interviewee 6 added:

“…now the VAT is 23 %. Can you imagine what we are talking about, 23 %! It

is very high. You cannot be competitive with a VAT of 23 %. The VAT

increases all the prices of all the products and services which are offered to a

destination. Especially, in this period that most of the tourists are trying to

minimize travel costs we cannot have so high VAT. After the crisis the

government implemented very strict austerity measures for increasing its

revenues. These measures were a disaster for most of the firms. The worst

thing is that these measures formulated an unstable and chaotic business

environment. In some cases I think that we are heroes that we managed to

survive from the crisis!”

One other problem which was mentioned by the executives of DMOs was

seasonality. The vast majority of the tourists visit Athens between June and

September. Athens as a destination is capable to attract visitors during the

whole year and DMOs should work towards this direction.

The limited seasonality affects the amount of the tourism revenues:

“We work mainly for three or four months. I mean from June till September or

October in the best case. So, seasonality is a problem. We should develop

strategies for attracting visitors for twelve months, such as London.

This will bring also huge increase in our profits”. (Interviewee 2)

The interviewees also said that Athens has also infrastructure problems.

For increasing the amount of tourists the city needs more high quality hotels

as well as an improvement in the public transportations inside the city.

In addition, the respondents said that the coastal front of the city should be

connected more easily with the city center allowing visitors to be transported

from Acropolis to the beach and conversely.

Besides, the beachfront of the city is untapped since there is not an area for

the visitors to walk, have a coffee, relax, eat something etc. In other words,

the executives stated that the seafront is detached from the city:

“For increasing the tourist demand in Athens we should connect and I mean

connect efficiently the city center with the seafront. A good example is

Barcelona which achieved to connect the beach with the city center.

In Athens the beach is unexploited. We have many kilometers of coastline

and there is not an area that visitors can have a walk, take a coffee, rent a

bike, etc. From 2004 we are listening plans for the development of the

seafront of the city and nothing has been done. I think that the tourists in

Athens are not going to the seafront. If the city manages to promote and

highlight its seafront, it will gain an important competitive advantage”

(interviewee 4)

Finally, respondents stated that Athens should become more clean and

organized as well as complete the major projects of the construction of the

new Lyrical Stage, the redevelopment of the city center and the construction

of the metropolitan park at the area of old airport.

DMOs have developed several recommendations for addressing the problems

which hinder the development of Athens as a tourist destination.

It is interesting to note that DMOs differ in the ways of perceiving and

addressing these problems. For example, GNTO which is a public

organization focuses in the development of central government policies in

which private enterprises should be incorporated.

In contrast, DMOs such as the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises

(SETE) and the Athens Hotels Association (AHA) which are private legal

entities - demand state intervention for constructing infrastructure projects and

for facilitating the development of entrepreneurship in the city of Athens.

For example, managers who were working in SETE and in AHA submitted

proposals to several public bodies for changing the business environment in

Greece. These proposals included: 1) changes in the income tax,

2) reductions in VAT and other tax reforms which will enhance

entrepreneurship, 3) the construction of peripheral airports, 4) the opening of

the retail stores on Sundays, especially in the touristic periods,

5) establishment and functioning of University departments such as the

Department of Economics and Tourism Administration, and 6) arrangements

of the debts of tourism enterprises to pension funds.

The following statement by interviewee 3 is representative:

“In 2013 we made plenty suggestions and proposals to the government for

addressing the problems that we discussed before. Our suggestions covered

a wide range of activities such as the changes in tax policy, the reduction of

the VAT, the construction of peripheral airports which will decrease travel

costs for tourist who want to visit Athens and the establishment of Schools

such as the Department of Economics and Tourism Administration. These are

very important issues for our business. Apart from the taxes I want to say that

we need peripheral airports because the current airport of Athens is very

expensive. An expensive airport means that travelers will pay more for visiting

Athens. Besides, we are a touristic country and we don’t have a University

School of Tourism. This does not happen anywhere else! All the other

western countries have University departments which support tourism”

In general terms, the participants said that the relationships and the

collaboration between public and private DMOs are good. However, in the

period of crisis, private DMOs have ever - increasing demands to ensure the

sustainability of the tourism businesses and promote Athens as a destination.

4.7 Relationships with other DMOs

Most of the DMOs which participated in the study have established

partnerships with DMOs and other tourism institutions in foreign countries.

These partnerships help Greek DMOs to be updated concerning the trends of

the global tourism market as well as to enhance the movement of tourists

between cooperating countries. Participants also said that DMOs from

European countries and USA have developed an advanced know-how in

destination marketing which in some cases can be adopted from Greek

DMOs. For example, DMOs in France for attracting visitors in the country’s

destinations organize cultural and sport festivals which have international

identity.

During the discussions it was stated that these events are very efficient in

increasing the arrivals of tourists in a certain destination calling the executives

of the Greek DMOs to move towards this tactic:

“Yes we have partnerships with other DMOs in foreign countries and

especially with organizations in Europe and USA. We have to learn a lot of

things from them. Don’t forget that countries such as France, UK, Italy etc.

have a long tradition in tourism and have developed more sophisticated

marketing strategies. We have some way to go to reach them.

France, for example organizes several cultural and sport events which attract

visitors from all over the world. It not easy to organize and promote these kind

of festivals but we should start thinking that these events can bring many

tourists in Athens”. (interviewee 1)

The managers of the DMOs also said that destination marketing can improve

substantially the image of Athens as a tourist destination.

However, an essential requirement is the better coordination and collaboration

between the DMOs. DMOs should collaborate more efficiently not only

between them but also with the public bodies.

In other words, the respondents denoted that the promotion of Athens

requires concerted effort between public and private actors which are involved

in the tourism industry. The benefits will be multiplied for businesses, the state

and the society in general.

Image Source: “ Cad. EBAPE.BR vol.8 no.4”, Rio de Janeiro Dec. 2010

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1679-39512010000400003

4.8 A summary of findings

Table 4.2 summarizes the findings coming from the depth interviews.

The author chose to use a table because:

It helps to present the results more effectively

Categorizes the findings according to the aims of the dissertation

The reader can make comparisons with the results of other academic

studies

Table 4.2: Summary of Findings

Objective Findings Insights and new trends of high informational value about the Tourism Industry in Athens.

Greece in general terms is a popular destination in the global tourism market with many growth prospects

The tourists who are visiting Greece are coming from several countries revealing the international identity of the country’s destinations

The main reasons which lead tourist in visiting Greece are the natural beauty, the clean seas, the sunlight and the historical monuments and archaeological sites of the country

After the appearance of the financial crisis in 2008 the capital of Greece as a tourism destination experienced a continuous decline in the tourist demand. As it was expected, this decline impacted negatively tourism revenues.

The decrease stopped in 2012 and in 2013 and 2014 the tourist arrivals started to increase

The average stay per guest in Athens is approximately 2 nights, whereas the occupancy of the Hotels in Athens in 2013 was close to 50 %. The average price of hotel rooms in Athens in 2013 was approximately 70 Euros and the revenue per available room 45 Euros.

The main activities of tourists in Athens are visits to the Acropolis and the Parthenon as well as in the Acropolis museum.

The vast majority of the tourists are not visiting any theater, cinema, cultural exhibition, music show etc. neither go to the beaches which are close to the city.

Most of the tourists are not informed regarding the events –cultural, athletic, etc. - which are running in the city.

Athens in most of the cases is used by tourists as a stopover in their way for the islands

Activities which were performed by DMOs for promoting Athens as a tourist destination

The main activities which were performed by DMOs for promoting Athens as a tourist destinations are:

I. promotion through publications and audiovisual media

II. participation of DMOs in international tourism fairs

III. creation of audiovisual productions with the title “You in Athens”

IV. creation of network synergies with airline companies, and DMOs from other countries

V. joint promotion activities with Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air -which are Greek airline companies

VI. online promotion activities and creation of online portals which promote the tourist activities in Athens

VII. development of a membership program for firms which are operating in the tourism sector in Athens

VIII. creation of promotional products such as umbrellas, bags, blocks, postcards and other souvenirs

IX. Conduction of market research studies for evaluating the current activities and designing future actions.

Most DMOs are focusing in the markets of Germany, UK, France, Holland, Italy, USA, Russia, Balkans and Israel For the moment DMOs focus in seaside leisure tourism and convention tourism. There is not a coordinated effort for the promotion of other types of tourism

Planned Actions of the DMOs for the future

The mission of the DMOs in the next three years is to enhance the tourism in the main cities of Greece and especially in Athens The communication strategy for Athens in the next years will be based in five modules which represent the key sectors of the Greek Tourism. These sectors are: 1) cultural tourism, 2) health tourism, 3) luxury tourism, 4) city break tourism, and 5) convention tourism

Other planned activities for promoting the destination of Athens include:

I. development of a communication campaign which will focus in the maximization of the marketing effectiveness

II. continue to cooperate with tour operators, travel agents, foreign DMOs, or offices of Greek DMOs in foreign countries

III. development of a core communication strategy for the city which will also contain advertising campaigns in the foreign media

IV. increased participation in international tourism fairs

V. sponsorships in selected events in Greece and abroad

VI. opening in new markets

VII. promotion of domestic tourism

DMOs in the future are planning to target the tourist markets of China, Russia, Turkey and USA. Brazil and India are also emerging markets

Problems that hinder the development of Athens as a Tourism destination

Tourism companies –hotels, tour operators, restaurants, coffee shops, etc – have to face a very high taxation.

The Value Added Tax (VAT) in Greece is relatively high

After 2008 the economic and political environment in Greece was unstable deterring tourists from coming to Athens

Seasonality: The vast majority of the tourists visit Athens between June and September. Athens as a destination can attract visitors during the whole year and DMOs should work towards this direction.

Infrastructure problems: The city needs more high quality hotels as well as an improvement in the public transportations inside the city

The coastal front of the city should be connected more easily with the city center allowing visitors to be transported from Acropolis to the beach and conversely.

The beachfront of the city is untapped since there is not an area for the visitors to walk, have a coffee, relax, eat something etc.

Athens should become more clean and organized as well as complete the major projects of the construction of the new Lyrical Stage, the redevelopment of the city center supervised by the Onassis Foundation and the construction of the metropolitan park at the area of the old airport.

The strategic role of the DMOs

In general terms, the relationships and the collaboration between public and private DMOs are good. However, they differ in the ways of perceiving and addressing the problems of tourism.

Most of the DMOs which participated in the study have established partnerships with DMOs and other tourism institutions in foreign countries. These partnerships help Greek DMOs to be updated concerning the trends of the global tourism market as well as to enhance the movement of tourists between cooperating countries

Participants also said that DMOs from European countries and USA have developed an advanced know-how in destination marketing which in some cases can be adopted from Greek DMOs. The promotion of Athens requires concerted effort between public and private actors which are involved in the tourism industry.

Suggestions for improvement proposed by the DMOs

I. changes in the income tax,

II. reductions in VAT and other tax reforms which will enhance entrepreneurship,

III. construction of peripheral airports

IV. the opening of the retail stores on Sundays, especially in the tourist periods

V. Establishment and functioning of University departments such as the Department of Economics and Tourism Administration

VI. Arrangements of the debts of tourism enterprises to pension funds