Bike Friendly: Strong presence of cycling tourism at AIT Expo 2022

The 9th Athens International Tourism Expo, the largest inbound tourism exhibition in Athens, is being held at the Zappeion Megaron, featuring top exhibitors from Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Indonesia, and Lithuania. Exhibitors include hotels, resorts, luxury boutique hotels and villas, travel agencies, DMC companies, yachting services, regions, municipalities, and many more. This creates a strong network for closing inbound tourism agreements, both with the Hosted Buyers, who are also participating in the event, and with professional visitors.

International Hosted Buyers from 30 markets are present at the AIT Expo, conducting B2B meetings with exhibitors to secure successful commercial deals for the 2023 inbound tourism season.

Cycling tourism has a strong presence at the expo through the “Bike Friendly” certification, an initiative of the non-profit organization NATTOUR, which promotes the development of alternative forms of tourism, with a focus on cycling tourism. The “Bike Friendly” certification is awarded to both hotels and municipalities-tourist destinations that meet a set of internationally recognized criteria (criteria for hotels and criteria for tourist destinations).

The development of the “Bike Friendly” certification is done in collaboration with the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature (EEPF).

The “Bike Friendly” project is supported by Travel Media Applications, a company that offers comprehensive communication solutions exclusively to the tourism industry, leveraging technology for online applications.

NATTOUR’s activities for cycling tourism, under the “Bike Friendly” certification, are under the auspices of the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Environment & Energy, and the Ministry of Infrastructure & Transport.

It is worth noting that entrance to the 9th Athens International Tourism Expo is free of charge.