Athenians know a straight pitch when they hear one. This Friday, November 14, at the Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens, Travel.gr, Greece’s leading travel platform, and Proto Thema, the country’s most-read news publisher, host Greece Talks, their biannual conference series on how Greece thinks about travel, culture, technology, and AI. This installment is ‘The Intelligence Age’, focused on what artificial intelligence means for how Greece is seen, built, and experienced. While the physical event is by invitation only, it will be broadcast in its entirety on protothema.gr. Don’t miss it.
The morning starts with something rather unusual: an introductory, brief interview featuring one of Greece’s most admired actors and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, setting the terms for a day that favors clarity over flourish. The U.S. Ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, follows with a conversation on leadership and public life. Much later, Stijn Oyen, Managing Director of Marriott’s Design Hotels, looks at how design, locality, and AI-driven personalization shape what travelers actually feel on the ground.
From there, the choices multiply. A rare full showing of Greece’s key finance and tourism ministers and bankers takes up the future of policy and investment. Cabinet officials and Attica’s (where Athens is located) regional governor examine how to shape places for the next generation. Business heavyweights and the founder behind one of the country’s best-known start-ups explore where government, finance, and enterprise meet. Cultural leaders from Athens and Rome discuss museums moving from prestige to experience, and how AI can enhance – not flatten – heritage. An ocean advocate brings the environmental stakes into view. Architects and hospitality educators translate ideas into spaces and skills. Major hoteliers close with what it means to be accountable to a destination, not just a brand.
If you’re new to the names, Greece Talks does the work for you, panel by panel and interview by interview, offering more than one way in and more than one way out with something useful. ‘The Intelligence Age‘ is built for listening, learning, and leaving with a clearer map – and a practical sense of where AI as well as human intelligence belongs in the mix.
View the official Travel.gr conference website here.
Conference Schedule
10:15 Welcome Remarks
Opening by Fotis Tsimelas, Chief Product Officer, and Androniki Kolovou, Director, Travel.gr
10:30 Being Greek: Between Myth and Modernity
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece
Giannis Bezos, Actor
Moderator: Antonis Sroiter, Journalist
11:30 Intelligent Leadership in a Changing World
Kimberly Guilfoyle, U.S. Ambassador to Greece
Moderator: Giorgos Evgenidis, Journalist
12:00 Bringing Together Government, Business & Society
Kostis Hatzidakis, Deputy Prime Minister
Spyros Theodoropoulos, President & CEO, BESPOKE SGA HOLDINGS S.A.; Chairman,
Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV)
Dimitris K. Tsitsiragos, Chairman of the Board, Alpha Bank
Nikos Drandakis, Entrepreneur (Founder Taxi Beat/Sync)
Moderator: Babis Koutras, Journalist
12:40 Shaping Places for the Next Generations
Stavros Papastavrou, Minister of Environment & Energy
Nikos Hardalias, Regional Governor of Attica
Haris Kokkosis, Professor Emeritus of Urban & Spatial Planning, University of Thessaly
Ria Vogiatzis, Founder & CEO, Elastic Architects
Moderator: Georgia Sadana, Journalist
13:10 Design, Locality, and Culture
Kalia Konstantinidou, Group Executive Officer, Empiria Group
Stijn Oyen, Managing Director, Design Hotels
13:25 Break
14:00 A Voice for the Oceans
Alexandra Cousteau, Cofounder, Oceans 2050 / National Geographic Explorer
14:15 How Culture Shapes Greece’s Global Identity
Ioanna Dretta, President, National Archaeological Museum / CEO, Reds, Ellaktor Group / Chair, Marketing Greece
14:30 From Heritage to Experience: The Future of Museums
Massimo Osanna, Director General of Museums, Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism
14:45 Tomorrow’s Spaces: Designing for Connection
Jette Cathrin Hopp, Snøhetta’s Director for Acquisition and New Projects in Europe and the UK
15:00 The Future of Travel: Trends Shaping Tomorrow
Jenny Southan, Founder and CEO, Globetrender
15:15 Become a Transformative Hospitality Leader
Dr Alessandro Inversini, Professor, EHL – Hospitality Business School
15:30 Hoteliers: Guardians of Destination
Panos Paleologos, Founder & CEO, HotelBrain Group
Ilias Kokotos, Director of Business Development, Elounda Collection Hotels & Resorts
Markos Haidemenos, Managing Director, Canaves Collection
Moderator: Kostas Panagakis, MD Travelworks
