Greece’s strategic shift toward attracting high-end conference tourism is no longer wishful thinking, but a complex undertaking that goes through radical restructuring and the intelligent utilization of public assets.
The country must develop an integrated infrastructure ecosystem in order to attract the international market. A leading role in this national project belongs to Hellenic Public Properties Company (ETAD), which radically changes the philosophy of approaching the market.
As the managing director of the company, Iro Hatzigeorgiou, notes, ETAD abandons the horizontal practices of the past and now examines the individual DNA of each property. This new, “personalized” approach allows for the precise determination of the real growth potential of each asset, ensuring the best possible preparation of investment proposals before they are channeled to the market.
Hatzigeorgiou gives special emphasis to two emblematic projects that aspire to reshape the map of domestic infrastructure. The first concerns the Faliro Indoor Arena (used in the 2004 Olympics mainly for the tae kwon do events), a property with a new identity intended to be transformed into a modern, international destination for conferences and major events. This critical project of developing and upgrading the Faliro Arena into a conference center has been officially undertaken by the Region of Attica, through close cooperation with ETAD.
