Global Wine Tourism Organization Circles: Inspiring new futures together
The Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Argentina, Matías Lammens and the Director General of Tourism Policy of Greece, PanagiotaDionysopoulou, participated on Monday November 30 in the first roundtable organized by the Global Wine Tourism Organization (GWTO) within its” Connecting Governments” initiative.
The act was moderated by GWTO MICE Director, Arnaldo Nardone andconducted by the GWTO President CEO, José Antonio Vidal, who startedby pointing out one of the main commitments of the Organization: thecoopetitiveness between all agents conforming the value chain in the WineTourism sector. “As proof of it, today we have with us, two of the twentycountries that count with a Wine Tourism offer: welcome Argentina andGreece.” With a “Let the Wine Tourism party begin!”, Vidal gave way to therespective promotional videos, after which both guests started the talk onthe topics proposed by the Director of the ‘GWTO Academy’, Coralie Hallerand the Regional Directors, Pablo Singerman (Latin America) and LeonidGelibterman (Eastern Europe and Western and Central Asia).
Matías Lammens stated that “Wine Tourism is one of the biggeststrengths in Argentina due to the competitive advantages that it offers tothe tourists, in comparison with the rest of the World: climate andlandscape diversity, the excellent quality of the wines and of the nationalgastronomy, Safe Travel certification and its current currency exchangerate”.
The Minister also mentioned that “this year we have carried out a Plan onthree fronts: Industry sustainability, Training and Improvement ofinfrastructures. Thus, the Argentinean Wine Tourism Observatory wascreated, the Wine Tourism Marketing Plan has been designed and the appfor the ‘Wine, travels and gatherings’ was launched”.
Panagiota Dionysopoulou, on her part, highlighted that “Wine Tourism isa high priority matter within the agenda of the Greek Ministry of Tourism which has been actively joining initiatives such as Open Cellar Doors. Theirmain goal for 2021 is the recovery of the country as a tourist destination, improving the investment regulatory framework and adopting all therequired measures to keep up with the new global trends. The future will be different and challenging, but filled with opportunities for innovation”.
Lastly, toasting with a wine from each other’s country, they sealed theincorporation of both nations to the Organization. Lammens andDionysopoulou expressed their enthusiasm in regards to the launching ofGWTO: “For us the creation of GWTO is a great news and it coincides withour spirit. We celebrate it and we imagine ourselves working side to side”,the Argentinean Minister concluded. For the Director General of TourismPolicy of Greece “GWTO and its Academy will provide an inclusivecooperative governance and all the necessary strategic tools for the sector. We are happy and we greatly appreciate the cooperation with all the taskforce involved in managing GWTO with passion, led by José Antonio Vidal”.
During the meeting, the President of GWTO also announced the creation ofthe World Wine Tourism Economical Monitor, the GWTO Seal ofQuality -which will greatly benefit the promotion of the Wine Tourismproducts for their commercialization-, the creation of the InternationalWine Tourism Marketplace and the organization of events at bothlocal and global levels.
