Greek Breakfast Served at the Airport to Celebrate World Tourism Day [photos, videο]
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Greek hoteliers and the Athens International Airport celebrated World Tourism Day at Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport on September 26 by serving a traditional “Greek Breakfast” buffet in the departures area of the airport.
To highlight the cultural and gastronomic identity of the country, the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels in collaboration with the A!A and the Athens, Attica, and Argosaronic Hotel Association offered up a delicious breakfast to departing passengers at the airport. The breakfast buffet included freshly baked bread and rusks, yogurt, olives, honey, cheeses, cold cuts, fresh fruit and vegetables, legumes, and sweet and savory pies.
“We wholeheartedly support this effort that brings quality Greek products to the table of every traveler,” said the Deputy Minister of Tourism Sofia Zaharakis as she opened the event and offered congratulations to the organizers. “We celebrate World Tourism Day by focusing on the high quality of Greek products and we aim to offer up Greek gastronomy as a vehicle to promote our country abroad. We focus on the quality, authenticity, and sustainability of Greek tourism and lay solid foundations for the future.”
As underlined by the president of Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, Alexandros Vassilikos, the innovative “Greek Breakfast” program was launched in 2010 by the chamber and has since then been widely recognized for its continuous enrichment and ever-increasing participation.
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The “Greek Breakfast” highlights the particular culinary tradition of each region of our country, depending on the products produced there and the particular climatic and geographical conditions. The program also gives visitors a unique experience and opportunity to taste Greek products, and conversely it helps open up new markets for unique Greek products. Every day, with every breakfast, the hotels that have embraced the program become the best ambassadors of our high quality products and highlights Greek gastronomy,” said Mr. Vassilikos.
“As is known, Filoxenia spreads its benefits to 17 branches of economic activity and nine sectors of the Greek economy. The Greek hotel industry holds a prominent place for its contributions, as confirmed by ITEP research on behalf of XEE. According to that research, 88 percent of hotel expenditures are spent onr the purchase of food and drinks and most of that is for Greek products, with 36 percent of it focusing on local producers (that is, within the prefecture where each hotel operates) and 52 percent on products from the rest of Greece.”
The Director of Communication & Marketing of the Athens International Airport Ioanna Papadopoulou, commenting on the program, added: “The invitation to ‘Greek Breakfast’ is another expression of our multidimensional cooperation with the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels and the Association of Hoteliers, Athens, Attica, and Argosaronicos and is a special moment for us at the Athens airport.
“As part of our ongoing effort to strengthen and promote our Greekness and tradition, we have chosen World Tourism Day to share with our travelers the culinary experience of the authentic, Greek products that make up a Greek breakfast and in turn, to express, in a more delicious way, the incomparable hospitality of our country.”
The president of ESAAA Lambrini Karanassiou Zulovits, also referred to the purpose of the event, pointing out that: “The Greek Breakfast is an initiative that is loved by Greeks and foreign visitors alike and its reputation has already gone beyond Greek borders.
It expresses our country, our Greece, and our warm welcoming, “good morning,” and above all supports and highlights the production of local products and Greek producers We are proud of the Greek Breakfast initiative, with which today, on the eve of World Tourism Day, we bid farewell to the visitors departing from our country from the Athens International Airport.”
The initiative has been financed and administered since 2010 by XEE, which considers it as one of its most privileged fields of action. The uniqueness of “the Greek Breakfast” initiative aims at promoting a hyperlocal basket of products and also to highlight the culinary flavors and advantages of each region. This was made possible following consultations with representatives of tourism and gastronomy, i.e. hoteliers, lodging houses, producers, chefs, restaurateurs, of each region.
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From the beginning, we treated Greek Breakfast as a separate and autonomous brand, the development of which could add value to the Greek product and production respectively. The initiative connects Greek hoteliers with Greek producers, distinguishes local products and recipes, and to encourage hoteliers participating in the program to integrate these products into their breakfast buffets. The program highlights the delicious treasures of our country and promotes Greek gastronomy as a tool for the development of Greek tourism. Its goal is to give every visitor the opportunity to experience a special culinary experience in our country.
The Greek breakfast, as mentioned above, highlights the main products of the Mediterranean diet: bread and rusks, cheeses, olives, honey, fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, savory and sweet pies.
The organizers of the project honored their member hoteliers and first time participants, who responded enthusiastically to the program members, allowing it to continue and helping to improve the country’s business reputation, creating a sea of positive comments and reviews on social media, and building loyalty to our visitors so they return, by upgrading the level of services provided to them. The initiative, they said, is a product of collective work and the efforts of many.
About 1,200 tourist hotel companies joined in the effort, producing 41 standard breakfasts. They also participated in national and international exhibitions and conferences—and were awarded for their efforts. The online presence of XEE has also continuously improved and additional criteria have been added by the state to classify accommodations into categories that are easier for visitors to navigate.
A control procedure has also been established for the biennial certification of accommodations
Today, with all the necessary knowledge and experience, XEE aims to widen its visibility. Within the current year, a program of targeted actions will be implemented inside and outside Greece, with the aim of “initiating” the main markets that feed our tourism to the philosophy of the Greek Breakfast, thus giving added value to our tourism product.
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