By Ilias Karagiannis.
The re-opening of an workplace of the Greek Nationwide Tourism Organisation (GNTO) in Australia was a declared aim of Greece’s Basic Secretary of Tourism Coverage and Improvement, Olympia Anastasopoulou, when she first spoke solely to The Greek Herald in December 2022.
Since then, Greece’s Tourism Minister has confirmed that her aim has been realised. The GNTO shall be opening in Melbourne, Victoria on the Greek Group of Melbourne’s (GCM) landmark Greek Centre on Lonsdale Avenue.
Ms Anastasopoulou proved to be the driving drive behind the bold effort to re-establish the GNTO in Melbourne, which ended with the passing of a parliamentary invoice in March this 12 months.
At the moment, in an unique assertion to The Greek Herald and just a few days after the grandiose imaginative and prescient of the re-opening of the GNTO workplace got here to fruition, Ms Anastasopoulou refers back to the private guess she comprised of the primary day of her time period of the advantages that Greece and Australia could have from this transfer.
Ms Anastasopoulou additionally thanks the President of the GCM, Invoice Papastergiadis, for granting the suitable house to deal with the workplace in Melbourne.
“From the primary second I took over as Basic Secretary of Tourism Coverage and Improvement, I positioned a private guess: the reopening of the GNTO in Australia,” Ms Anastasopoulou stated.
“After private and steady effort, I’m significantly proud as a result of throughout our tenure on the Ministry of Tourism we managed to beat the bureaucratic and authorized obstacles for the re-opening of the workplace in Australia.
Ms Anastasopoulou burdened the re-opening was made doable in cooperation with the Greek Prime Minister’s workplace and the competent Secretary Basic of the Greek Authorities, Stelios Koutnatzis, in addition to the essential contribution of Mr Papastergiadis.
“With Regulation 5039/3-4-2023, which has instant impact from its publication, the Greek Authorities proceeded with a historic initiative for the nation, a transfer with specific symbolism, as within the second largest metropolis of Australia [Melbourne] there’s additionally the most important Greek group of expatriates, whose fixed demand for eight years has been the re-establishment of a GNTO workplace in Australia.
That is, due to this fact, a constructive growth each for Greece, in addition to for the Diaspora and Hellenism, from which we count on a tightening of relations between the 2 international locations and naturally an extra improve in vacationer flows from Australian guests.
In spite of everything, the relations between Greece and Australia are characterised by cordiality, which is predicated on historic and homogenous ties.
As is understood, expatriation in Australia is the secure base, the bridge for the event and strengthening of the ties, not solely of friendship, but additionally of mutual understanding between Greece and Australia.
A major variety of Greek expatriates keep robust emotional ties with Greece, particularly with their particular native land. Their willingness to go to Greece usually, in addition to their tendency to spend money on the renovation of their ancestral houses, makes the Greek-Australian group a loyal and secure viewers that all the time helps Greece in tough instances.
On the similar time, the established presence of the Greek-Australian group inside Australian society, in addition to its intense enterprise exercise, is a car for transmitting and selling the Greek model. A typical instance is the established presence of the Greek diaspora and the passable penetration of Greek merchandise into the Australian market, which opens up new alternatives to advertise gastronomic tourism, but additionally wine tourism in our nation.
So it’s a win-win scenario for all of us.
In spite of everything, it’s greater than apparent that after we strive one thing collectively, when there’s a workforce effort, the result’s all the time the absolute best”.
