Memorandum of cooperation between Greece and Slovakia in the field of tourism

A memorandum of cooperation in the field of tourism was signed today by the Deputy Minister of Tourism Sofia Zacharaki and the Deputy Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Slovakia Katarína Bruncková. This Memorandum is a testament to the strengthening of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the last period.

It concerns, inter alia, the institutional cooperation between the two countries, the exchange of information and know-how in the fields of strategic planning, special forms of tourism and tourism education and training, tourism investment, tourism innovation and digitization, as well as the cooperation of two countries in the framework of international organizations.

The bilateral talks focused on the efforts for the recovery, the extension of the tourist season, which for our country is connected with the support and promotion of winter tourism but also of special forms of tourism in general and the continuous strengthening of the skills of tourism workers. Ms. Zacharaki pointed out the importance of upgrading the profile of work in tourism, aiming at high professionalism and stability, and therefore the commitment to provide quality tourism services.

The two sides agreed to draw up an action plan for the prioritization of areas of cooperation of mutual interest, with the Greek side proposing winter tourism, cycling and ecotourism and the Slovak side, as well as special forms of tourism, placing an emphasis on green tourism and in general the principles of sustainability for tourism development and skills development. In this regard, Ms. Zacharaki informed Ms. Bruncková about the support for the structural reintegration of tourism workers in the labor market, which is being undertaken by the Ministry of Tourism through the program to upgrade the skills of 20,000 tourism workers and unemployed persons in the near future.

The Slovak Deputy Minister noted that Greece was the dominant market this year for the outgoing tourism of her country, praised the efforts of the Greek authorities for the opening of tourism and the management of the pandemic and expressed the desire to increase tourist flows from our country to Slovakia. In this regard, the importance of direct flights and targeted product development, promotion and promotion, focusing on city breaks and nature tourism was confirmed.