Tourism businesses of Gjirokastra exhibited at Philoxenia, a regional /international tourism fair in Thessaloniki, in Greece.
Visit Gjirokastra Association Board invited tourism businesses of Gjirokastra to jointly participate under the stand of Visit Gjirokatra, and around 32 businesses embraced this initiative to be present in the fair with their promotional materials. Two partner municipalities of Gjirokastra and Tepelena were present.
Philoxenia the Greek word for hospitality – is one of the most significant exhibitions organized by HELEXPO. For the Greek and South-eastern Tourism Industry it is one of the most recognizable brands and the longest running tourism exhibition of Greece for more than 30 consecutive years now. The 35th edition of PHILOXENIA held this November had an increase in the number of its trade visitors, while the total number of visitors of Philoxenia and Hotelia reached 22,000. Round 350 exhibitors from Greece and other countries as Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey, Nepal, Spain, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Russia, Bulgaria, Albania, Italy, Slovakia, Luxemburg, Peru, Sri Lanka, Poland etc gave chances to VGA to introduce itself and collect important information on regional interest of many possible partners.
VGA was represented in this fair with a complex offer for the winter aiming the low season and also introduced to many operators the 2020 packages, accommodation and experiences coming from our members from the whole region. All these products coming from individual partners were very well connected with each other offering a longer stay in the area for especially Greek tourists. The touristic offer did include this time not only the towns but also the villages, the slow tourism, food, activities and life. Weekend trips with multi experiences were of high interest from the visitors and Greek operators. The possibility to shape new products due to visitor’s requests was possible at the place. Our stand shared valuable information for hundreds of guests that were inspire to visit the area individually.
Lunxheria polyphonic group that performed songs and local dances offered a beautiful atmosphere in our stand and was one of the attractions of Phioxenia Tourism Fair
This is another great example of local cooperation among tourist businesses and a show case of well-organized representation in tourism industry.
The newly established Visit Gjirokastra Association is aiming to bring value to the promotion and management of tourism in Gjirokastra Region. It a rare case in Albania where municipalities get together to echoing best values of the region and joint tourism offer. The initiative is supported by Swiss Government through Risi Albania Project and implemented by DMO Albania
