Greece tourism woos affluent Indian tourists and the Bollywood film fraternity

As part of its long term strategy to target the lucrative ‘Indian’ merket, Greece tourism woos affluent Indian tourists and the Bollywood Film Fraternity.

Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) is making a foray into the ‘promising’ Indian tourism market to boost the number of Indian tourists in Greece, and to get Bollywood filmmakers to shoot films in exciting locales in Greece.

“India and Greece are both lands filled with ancient histories and heros where we have Hercules, Achilles, Alexander the Great and we want to promote Greece as an ideal destination for film tourism, destination weddings and celebrations, and other products like honeymoon holidays, MICE and FITS,” said Greek Minister for Tourism Elena Kountoura.

As is part of any tourism strategy nowadays, film tourism is also a focus area for Greece. Major attractions in Greece like the Acropolis and Delphi sites have already been used in several Bollywood films.

“Bollywood is very important for us as one picture (film) is worth a thousand words and Bollywood’s films travel globally where millions of people see its movies including those featuring Greece’s open museums that are an ideal stage for film locations,” said Kountoura

GNTO is also mulling offering attractive financial deals to film producers for choosing Greece as a film-shooting destination.

Also Read: Bollywood films shot in Greece

However, connectivity between the two countries remain a challenge. Currently there are limited number of flights operating between the two countries, and its important that there are more direct India-Greece flights, to see an increase in incoming Indian tourists.

Besides Rome and Paris, Greece is among the top European destinations for Indians. The Greek Tourism minister was recently in India to promote Greece.

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