Representatives from the political scene, the business world, as well as leading institutional bodies from the Hotel Sector attended the grand opening of Xenia 2022.
The official opening of Xenia 2022 exhibition was held with great success and in an atmosphere of enthusiasm by the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Vasilis Kikilias, at the METROPOLITAN EXPO exhibition center, on Saturday November 26th, with the presence of representatives from the Hospitality Industry. The Minister was welcomed by Mr. Thanasis Panagoulias (CEO of FORUM SA), Mr. Thanasis Gialouris (Vice president FORUM SA) and Peter Ottmann, CEO of the Nurnbergmesse exhibition group, of which FORUM SA is a member.
Mr. Kikilias mentioned that “this year’s Xenia confirms the dynamic restart of greek tourism. I am glad to see smiles among the hoteliers today, as this year brought very high revenues and an even better quality tourism product. The entire tourism industry is here in XENIA proving in practice ‘strength in unity’”.
The opening event was attended by Mr. Peter Ottmann, CEO of the Nurnbergmesse exhibition group, of which FORUM SA is a member, who stated during his speech that “in Χenia, for the next two days, the heart of the Greek hotel industry is beating and anyone who wants to see the future of the tourism industry should come to the exhibition”.
Peter Ottmann, Vasilis Kikilias, Thanasis Panagoulias
Vassilis Kikilias, Angela Gerekou, Alexandros Vassilikos
All the representatives of the institutional bodies of the sector attended the grand opening
Present at the opening ceremony were also: Mr. Odysseas Konstantopoulos, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, Ms. Angela Gerekou President of EOT, Μr. Alexandros Vasilikos President of Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, Mr. Yiannis Retsos, President of SETE, Mr. Gregory Tassios – President of the Hellenic Hotel Federation, Mr. Evgenios Vassilikos Vice-President of POX and Mr. Alexandros Avlonitis, Deputy Head of Tourism of SYRIZA party.
The event was also honored by the presence of: Mr. Panagiotis Moraitis President of SEEME, Mr. Konstantinos Damigos, First Vice President of BEA, Mr. Alexandros Angelopoulos Vice President of Aldemar Resorts Group and Mr. Giorgos Stavrou, General Manager of Sofitel Athens Airport Hotel.
Thanasis Gialouris, Thanasis Panagoulias, Peter Ottmann, Stratos Apostolakos, Odysseas Konstantopoulos
Vangelis Galatsopoulos, Thanasis Panagoulias, Peter Ottmann, Vassilis Kikilias, Thanasis Gialouris
After the inauguration, the officials headed to room C1 of the exhibition hall where the most important institutional meeting of hoteliers, the 10th Annual General Assembly, was held, with the organizational signature of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels. Afterwards, Mr. Kikilias had the opportunity to tour the exhibition and talk to a number of exhibitors.
