MILLENNIAL TRAVEL THINK THANK

Description

Insider’s discussion: How can Athens tap the full potential of the Millennial market?Athens, like every other destination around the world must work hard to attract visitors and when they arrive, give them an experience that exceeds their expectations and puts them in the mood to return (hopefully sharing their opinion with plenty of others in the process). Recently, the Athens Development and Destination Management Agency (ADDMA) has turned its attention towards younger travellers, with the aim of building a product portfolio that will put the city on the map for this increasingly influential and affluent demographic.  

To build a strategy that is informed, inclusive and most of all, effective requires good dialogue between the city’s tourism stakeholders. Learning from the experience of others who have worked for many years in the sector and understand the characteristics of the youth market adds real value. This is why ADDMA, has invited representatives from the City of Athens, youth travel industry specialists from across Europe and, crucially, young local entrepreneurs to join this discussion. We hope that it will be first step towards bringing the youth market closer to Athens, making a genuine contribution to the city’s future economic and social development.

Who will participate?

What are the objectives for this discussion? How will the discussion be organised?

�� 7UDYHO�7KRXJKW��OHDGHUV�� $WKHQV�\RXQJ�HQWUHSUHQHXUV���VWDUWXS�OHDGHUV�� &LW\�RI�$WKHQV�'HYHORSPHQW�DQG�'HVWLQDWLRQ�0DQDJHPHQW�$JHQF\�� 0HGLD

Bring all parties up to date with the current state of the youth market and marketing initiatives to date.

Make a thorough and honest evaluation of the city’s current position, drawing on the perspectives of youth travel industry specialists (outsider’s point of view).

Discuss the current climate for entrepreneurialism in the city and seek opportunities for the city’s young tourism entrepreneurs to have a greater stake in the city’s tourism development.

The facilitators, Marti Grimminck and Jonathon Bates from International Connector, will organise a series of activities during the two hour session designed with a range of activities to maximise the input of each participant.  

Each group will receive a list of questions in advance designed to stimulate discussion.

Areas for consideration: product development, urban planning, marketing, associations, local and national government policy, culture considerations, recent trends.

MILLENNIAL TRAVEL THINK THANK

Briefing notesBriefing notes for all participants from the Athens Development and Destination Management Agency

For the City of Athens, the dedication to the systematic improvement and promotion of the capital city of Greece as an attractive tourism destination is currently a matter of great importance in the light of recent trends:

In 2012, there were approximately 2.2 million arrivals and around 4.5 million overnights in hotels in Athens that gave impetus to tourism demand despite the media coverage of the crisis in Eurozone.

In terms of International arrivals at the Athens International Airport, the top markets included the US, the UK, France, Germany, the long-haul market of Australia, and the familiar market of Cyprus.

More recently, Athens seems to be following a path of modest growth. Arrivals at the Athens International Airport increased by 2.5 per cent in 2013 while visits to archaeo-logical sites and museums in the wider area increased respectively by almost 20 and 7 per cent.

Equally interesting is the fact that growth in 2013 has appeared along with a more balanced distribution of international arrivals and cultural visits per month.

Expectations for 2014 are also high as a consequence of positive expectations for the whole country. In fact, there have been 263 thousand arrivals at the Athens Inter-national Airport in the first two months of 2014 in comparison to 202 thousand arrivals during the same period in 2013 (growth equal to 30.5 per cent).

MILLENNIAL TRAVEL THINK THANK

Briefing notesOn these grounds, the City of Athens Development & Destination Management Agency along with the Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau have planned to undertake until the end of 2015 a series of Online and B2B marketing initiatives with the aim of strengthening the competitive position of Athens in the international tourism market. Key priorities for the city are to continue attracting tourists from traditional markets and penetrate into emerging ones such as Russia and China, while there is particular emphasis in meeting the needs of specific segments such as the MICE market, cruise passengers, and youth travelers.

Online projects are focused on the renewal of digital content used by these authorities along with their more active presence in social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Moreover, B2B projects reflect the intention of the City of Athens to upgrade communication channels with tourism professionals worldwide. Apart from the staging of the current Travel Trade Athens, forthcoming projects until the end of 2015 include:

The participation of the City of Athens in international fairs and conferences

Familiarization trips for tourism professionals and journalists

The launch of the Athens Destination Specialist Program as a means of strengthening the city’s destination brand.

The staging of TBEX in Athens in October 2014.

MILLENNIAL TRAVEL THINK THANK

INTRODUCING THE PARTICIPANTS:City of Athens Development and Destination Management Agency

Alexis is CEO of ADDMA since 2011. He has been an advisor to the Municipality of Athens in economic development matters since 2003 and has led the establishment of a municipal agency whose objective is the management and implementation of tourism and economic development in Athens, serving as the organization’s first Director-General. He has also served as Special Secretary and Advisor to the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, prior to which he worked as an external consultant at the World Bank and for NGOs in several countries.

Alex Galinos

ADDMA 

Manolis Psarros

Founder & CEO, ABOUTOURISM

Manolis is the founder and Managing Director of abouTourism destination consultants. He also acts as the senior advisor to ACVB on destination marketing and sales. He is a tourism destination management and marketing expert whose experience focuses on tourism boards and DMOs strategic planning & operations support. He is a regular speaker at top international industry events and provides strategic counsel on tourism development and marketing to various destinations around the world.

v

CEO

Senior Consultant Destination Marketing & Sales, ACVB

George Vareloglou

Mindworks Interactive  George is Co-Founder and Business Development Director at Mindworks, one of the first Search Marketing Agencies in Greece. Since 2005, he has introduced and established Search Marketing in Greek through corporate blogging, seminars, case study publications and conference speeches. Today, Mindworks is an important Business Unit of Atcom, offering online communication services to some of the biggest clients in the Greek market

Business Development Director

Athens young entrepreneurs / startup leaders

MILLENNIAL TRAVEL THINK THANK

Alex Trimis

Dopios

Alex is the founder and CEO of dopios. He is an entrepreneur at heart who loves product that challenge the way we experience the world. He is an Engineering Graduate from Stanford University and has worked in the past with consumer web companies like Survey Monkey and oDesk.

Founder & CEO

Antonios Fiorakis

Incrediblue

Antonios is the Co-Founder & CEO of incrediblue.com, the boat rental marketplace.  An innovative travel startup that is integrating 3 industries at the same time - nautical tourism, travel & the internet.  He is also an alumni of IE Business School and the American College of Greece.  

Co-Founder & CEO

Akis Laopodis

Offerial  

Akis is the Founder & CEO of Offerial, a hotel tech startup founded in 2012 in Athens, that allows hotels to personalize what they sell to each traveler. His work is focused on analyzing the behaviors of travelers, and creating technology that can curate the experience every traveler can book in a destination, having the hotel as the core pivot point.  

Co-Founder & CEO

MILLENNIAL TRAVEL THINK THANK

Nikos Kakavoulis

Daily Secret

Nikos is the Founder and CEO of Daily Secret. Most recently he was the Head of Digital for the Condé Nast publisher in Greece, where he managed the digital relaunch of Vogue and Glamour. Nikos is an active mentor through the “The Good Karma Project” which he co-founded; a support network to high potential early-stage entrepreneurs. He lives between New York and Athens.

CEO/Founder

Laurent Steiner, Owner (Geneva, Switzerland)

Bamba Experience

Laurent is owner of Bamba Experience, a major tour operator offering flexible, adventure or tailor-made tours by bus in North & South America and South East Asia. He also owns Milhouse Backpacker & Hotel in Cuzco, Peru.

Owner

Travel Thought-Leaders

Christopher Bates (Barcelona, Spain)

Hall St

Christopher is an experienced Hotel Revenue and Distribution profession-al, with over 20 years Hospitality experience, 15 years especially dedi-cated to Hotel Revenue and Distribution disciplines. Christopher is COO of Hall St, the world’s first online social market place for hotel rooms. The service allows users to buy and sell all or part of hotel reservations. .

Chief Operating Officer

MILLENNIAL TRAVEL THINK THANK

Steve Lowy (London, UK)

Umi Digital and Umi Hotels 

Steve is passionate about marketing and training within the industry and inspiring young people to join the trade. He created the umi hotels brand in May 2007, and growing it to three sites, launched Umi Digital in the winter of 2010. A specialist in youth travel, he sits on the Board of BETA and STAY WYSE, both associations with a concentration on the youth travel sector. 

Co-Founder & CEO

Dan Baker (London, UK)

StudentUniverse

A digital Marketing professional with extensive experience in Social Media and Email Marketing, Dan is UK Marketing Manager of StudentUniverse Ltd, the largest student deal site in the US. The site provides exclusive travel discounts, rewards and experiences for students, faculty and youth around the globe. 

UK Marketing Manager

Kerry Tate (London, UK)

Topdeck Travel

Kerry has gained considerable experience in the youth travel industry in both Australia and the UK. Since 2010 he has worked for Topdeck Travel, an independent family-run company that has operated for over 40 years creating relaxed, informative adventures for ‘18-30 somethings’ in destinations worldwide.

Sales Manager, UK & Europe

MILLENNIAL TRAVEL THINK THANK

Katrin Schmidt

Airbnb

Kati Schmidt studied Media Management (MBA) at Hamburg Media School and San Francisco State University. She cofounded glutenfreiheit.org - an Internet portal for gluten free living as a side project. In 2010, she started working for the German startup incubator Hanse Ventures. In 2011, she joined Airbnb as one the first international employees to help the growth of Airbnb’s international business. She is now in charge of Public Policy of Germany and Eastern Europe and enjoys staying on Airbnb during leisure and business trips.  

DACH and CIEE

Kim Willis (London, UK)

Kim is a travel and global affairs journalist for British Airways’ High Life and Business Life. She also writes about new global trends in entrepre-neurship and culture for The Guardian and the Urban Times. Kim is also the Strategy Director on the BA account with Cedar, the leading global content marketing agency. With twelve years of experience in marketing and communications, her role is to set the direction for travel content that inspires existing and new audiences to explore the world with BA, using video and social media as well as traditional print media channels.

Global Affairs Journalist and Content Strategy Director, Cedar for British Airways

Media

Judith Baker (London, UK)

Judith is a leading freelance travel writer and Editor. Judith has written articles for The Sunday Telegraph, The Mail, Square Mile magazine, The Express, City AM, CNN Traveller, The Jewish Chronicle, Guardian Online, Epoch Times, Portunus magazine and in-flight and travel trade publica-tions including ABTA magazine, Selling Long Haul and Travel Weekly.Judith has also contributed to the British Airways Executive Club newslet-ter and is a member of The British Guild of Travel Writers and The British Society of Magazine Editors.

.

Freelance travel writer and Editor

MILLENNIAL TRAVEL THINK THANK

Marti Grimminck (San Francisco, USA)

International Connector

Marti is a veteran traveler, social entrepreneur and experienced creative marketer. She is an expert in creating events and multi-channel media campaigns. With her sought after knowledge and experience working on youth products and youth trends, she bridges the gap between corpora-tions and millennials.

Jonathan Bates (London, UK)

Ellidore PR

Jonathon is a strategy and planning expert who ensures every campaign is built upon strong insight and analysis to ensure success. Specialising in using audience insight, zeitgeist trends and good old fashioned experi-ence, Jonathon has spent over a decade creating strategies for some of the world’s largest brands.

Facilitators

Chief Connector

Strategy and PR