9th HAPCO Pan-Hellenic Conference
Meetings Industry in Greece: Shaping The Future!
The 9th Annual HAPCO Meeting (Hellenic Association of Professional Congress Organizers) took place on 11th-12th April 2019 at the Radisson Blu Park Hotel, in Athens.
The congress focused on the following areas of interest and thematic streams:
- Strategic development of the MICE Industry
- The Human Approach
- Innovation & Technologies
- Opportunities for the development of the Meetings Industry in our country
- Promotion of Greece as an “all seasons” meetings destination
- Adjusting and adopting on the latest international trends of the Industry
- 2030 Vision
- Improvement of provided services;
- Emerging leaders – Bringing in the young generation
The congress program also included IAPCO (International Association of Professional Congress Organizers) Educational Seminars on topics such as: "Designing the Future of Brand Experience" and "Top Tips for Embedding Technology in Your Next Event" by Kim Myhre, Managing Director of MCI Experience.
During the two-day congress participants had the privilege to benefit from experts from the MICE industry as well as highly qualified professionals from other fields in Technology, Management, GDPR, Consulting, Human Resource Management, Communication, Nutrition, Leadership, etc.
During the Opening Ceremony, the General Secretary for Tourism Policy and Development Mr. Giorgos Tziallas, making a report on tourism policy, pointed out that state cooperation with the private sector contributed to the increase of numbers in Tourism by 35% over the last four years. He also stressed that the growth rate of Tourism is three times higher than the growth rate of the economy, including all related sectors.
In an effort to extend the “season”, the Secretary-General of the Greek National Tourism Organization, Mr. Konstantinos Tsegas, stated that the “Government supports various actions to that direction and in order to do so, specifications for the congress centers have been imposed and financial motives have been provided for the construction and improvement of the facilities…"
Mrs Irene Tolis, President of the Hellenic Association of Professional Congress Organizers - HAPCO, expressed her gratitude to the Athens Concert Hall & International Convention Center, the only congress center in Athens capable of hosting national & international events with a capacity of maximum of 2,500-3,500 attendees.
She also highlighted the lack of a large Convention Center in Greece, which will allow biddings for large -scale events, stressing that "our goal is to be competitive, to use state of the art technology, to have the support of the state and the authorities and last but not least to, convince all parties of the importance of the Congress Industry for Greece ". The need to join forces was highlighted by all invited speakers.
HAPCO welcomes the new generation – emerging Leaders
One of HAPCO’ s main priorities and strategic goals for the future, is to enhance the interest of young people in the Meetings Industry, to make them more active in actions initiated by the Association and to alert them in regards to the potentials for development in the Industry. In this sense, HAPCO Program Committee launched a competition among colleges & universities involved in the Industry. The competition, launched during the congress, for undergraduate or postgraduate students in Tourism studies, will definitely become a part of all future HAPCO congresses as it was undoubtably very successful.
The essays and presentations were impressive and showcased the enthusiasm of young leaders to shape the Industry by using all future trends.
The new HAPCO BoD was elected
The General Assembly and Elections took place at the end of the 2-day event. The new Board of Directors for the term 2019-2022, is as follows:
President: Irene Tolis
Vice-President: Panayiotis Podimata
sVice-President: Georgia KerasidouGeneral
Secretary: Sissy Lygnou
Treasurer: Dimitris Paliouras
Members: Antonia Alexandrou, Κostas Karagiorgakis, Emmanouella Moussama, Georgia Tsatsou.
