Tourism development in İskeçe: Infrastructure, outreach, and digital participation

The lack of sufficient hotel beds in İskeçe is seen as a disadvantage for local tourism, according to regional officials. While neither the municipality nor the regional authority can directly intervene in this matter, efforts are being made to promote the area to entrepreneurs and investors who may be convinced to invest in new infrastructure.

“We, as the Region, have a set of actions for all regional units,” officials noted, stressing that strategic promotion is the key to attracting private investment.

A Strategy of Extroversion Bearing Fruit

The new regional administration has prioritized tourism with a strategic plan centered on extroversion. As part of this, the Region participates in major international tourism exhibitions across Europe, including Berlin in March, Paris in September, and London in December.

“These are the three main international fairs, and we take part in all of them, as well as in intermediate ones,” said Regional Tourism Head Mr. Archontis. “We are focused on extroversion and want to communicate our tourism product as effectively as possible.”

Launch of the Tourism Participation & Cooperation Platform of Eastern Macedonia–Thrace

Another major goal is digitalization. In this framework, the recently launched Tourism Participation & Cooperation Platform https://emt.tourism-live.com/el-GR/
 introduces a new, open model of tourism planning and governance. Through the platform, stakeholders, professionals, and citizens alike can share their ideas and proposals.

“Participation in the platform is simple and immediate. Citizens can submit ideas, follow the progress of each proposal, and be informed about the interventions and opinions of others. We want tourism to be shaped within society,” Mr. Archontis emphasized.