"If we don't reform, we will sink," Yiannis Retsos, president of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) said on Tuesday, addressing the annual congress on "Tourism in Transition: #someTHINKdifferent".

Addressing executives of the tourism industry, Retsos said the tourism sector was at a crucial crossroads where the future of tourism demands innovative strategies and detailed planning to exploit all the opportunities arising. "The road towards the future requires knowledge and expertise," he noted, adding that tourism will be at the forefront of a digital transformation of the Greek economy.

Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura, in her address, said that digital transformation was a government priority and underlined that through the implementation of innovative products a further increase in tourist arrivals can be achieved. She presented the ministry's actions in this direction and referred to the support of startup companies, coding of tourism legislation and digitalisation of tourism education. Kountoura said that the Greek Tourism Organisation will soon launch its new digital portal, Visit Greece, in 10 languages.

The use of technology changes conditions in the economic environment of enterprises and in the way travelers seek their travel experiences, said Paul Papadimitriou, founder of Intelligencr, at the congress and referred to the entrance of Asian travelers, new age groups and the role of millennials in world tourism.

Martin Boisen, co-founder and vice-chairman of "The International Place Branding Association", in his speech, focused on the importance of Destination Management Organisation and stressed that this way cities could deal with the problem of hyper-tourism, as in the cases of Amsterdam and Barcelona.