Greece and Berlin discuss Alternative Tourism

Members from Greece and Berlin Travel Massive met online to discuss different forms of alternative tourism in a webinar on February 6.

This event recap was written by Lisa Hübner. Lisa is a co-chapter leader at Travel Massive Berlin and a marketing & PR specialist for the tourism industry.

In recent years, many alternative forms of tourism have emerged. The online event highlighted a few examples of initiatives coming out of Berlin and Greece.

We started with an introduction of the alternative tourism scene in Greece and Berlin/Germany. Berlin co-leader Lydia Band compared image and reality of Berlin as a tourism destination and introduced a few Berlin chapter members working within alternative tourism.

Maria Athanassopoulou shared why Greece is not only sea and sun and highlighted some of the alternative experiences available, including therapeutic tourism, active and nature tours, ecotourism and more.

Then, two speakers each from Berlin and Greece presented their tourism projects.

The General Manager at Fairaway, Dirk Radke, explained how his company provides fair and sustainable travels around the world, with travel experts in each country making the journeys unique and tailor made. He explained how their tours support the local communities and contribute to sustainable tourism practices by educating consumers, reducing plastic waste and avoiding overtourism where possible.

Arianna Nicoletti, the co-founder of Green Fashion Tours and Circular Economy Tours. Green Fashion Tours spoke about how her passion for sustainable fashion first led to creating a map with all the green fashion businesses in Berlin and then to offering guided urban excursions and workshops exploring the most sustainable and innovative fashion companies in Berlin and Munich.

Dina Tertsi spoke about her family owned restaurant, Maiami Seafood Restaurant in Thessaloniki, and how her team organizes authentic Greek dinners experiences from local ingredients for visitors. For her, every ingredient tells a story and all these little stories together with the orchestration of a talented cook, will stimulate our senses.

Last but not least, Iakovos Sachas, the founder of DNA Travel introduced the participants to alternative tourism experiences in Santorini, where his company offers tours exploring the history and cultural heritage of the island. For example, visitors can learn about pre-historic and ancient civilizations or go on an instrumental journey.

Despite some technical issues, everyone enjoyed the presentations and engaged in lively discussions in the webinar chat.

Here is the recording of the webinar (scroll to 1:15 minutes for the start of the discussion):

🎧 https://tmsv.co/AlternativeTourismRecording

Thanks to all the speakers for sharing their projects, ideas and passions with us!

See the event page for details on all the speakers and organizers, and connect with them on Travel Massive to learn more.