29 October 2012 - Vice President Tajani on official visit to Greece
European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani made an official visit to Greece on 28 and 29 October and met government representatives, notably Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. Together with Commissioner Maria Damanaki VP Tajani discussed with Andreas Andreadis, President of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), and Minister of Tourism Olga Kefalogianni, prospects for sustainable growth from the marine and maritime sectors, including the development of cruise tourism which offers good growth prospects for Greece with its many islands. Discussions covered also current Commission plans for visa facilitation/simplification which aim to encourage growth in tourism from emerging markets.
VP Tajani was also a keynote speaker at the 11th SETE Conference on "Tourism and Development – Marketing Greece, Promoting the quality side of Modern Greece". In his speech he illustrated how the Commission intends to strengthen the European industry, as detailed in the Commission Communication of 10 October 2012, and explained how Greece could benefit from the proposed actions. He explained the Commission policies to promote Europe as a tourist destination in high growth markets and to develop travel during the traditional low season.
Read the full speech 
[283 KB] 
Vice President Tajani also met Kostis Hatzidakis, the Minister of Development, Competitiveness, Infrastructures, Transport & Networks, Serafeim Tsokas, Secretary General of the Ministry of Development and Spyros Efstathopoulos, Secretary General for Industry.
