The 25th PHILOXENIA International Tourism Exhibition and the parallel HOTELIA Hotel Furnishing Exhibition Event are at the focal point of European Exhibition activity in the tourist sector. The events held from October 29 to November 1 at Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre and they are characterised by exceptional dynamism and intense extroversion. There were also extremely topical session themes at the 2nd European Tourism Conference: “The Day after - Turning Crisis into Growth”.

At the 25th PHILΟΧΕΝΙΑ, as stressed by the President of HELEXPO S.A., Mr. AristotelisThomopoulos, at the pre-Exhibition Press Conference - which was also attended by the Chairman of the Hellenic Hotel Federation (POX), Mr. Andreas Andreadis, and the Chairman of the Association of Travel agents of Macedonia-Thrace, Mr. Dimitris Mantousis - there are 800 exhibitors, as compared to 820 at last year’s event.

Exhibitors came from 18 countries, namely: Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, Syria, and Turkey. There are also 11 countries participating with organized state delegations (Cyprus, the Czech Republic Bulgaria, Egypt, India, Italy, Russia, Serbia, Syria, Turkey, and Tunisia).

This year’s event was complemented by a particularly dynamic hosted buyers programme. Invitations have been extended to 70 tour operators from 22 countries, namely: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA. There was also a hosted media programme in the context of the exhibition, as well as a parallel cultural event programme, spreading the special “colour” of Greece around the globe.

Special emphasis placed this year on enhancing the competitiveness of HOTELIA, the Hotel Furnishing Exhibition, which traditionally ‘accompanies’ PHILOXENIA. At the next event to be held, it will be co-organised by HELEXPO and EXRPO & CLEAN, opening new horizons for the industry in SE Europe.

Of course, all these are combined with the customary presentations of:
- “Philoxenia Tourism Awards” to top tourism destinations chosen by the general public through electronic voting, and
- “Morpheus” awards, to the ‘best of the best’ among Greek hotels, which were evaluated by certified ‘secret inspectors’ of TUV-HELLAS on behalf of PHILOXENIA.