World’s largest movie industry eyes Greece for productions

Producers from the world’s largest movie industry expressed great interest in filming productions in Greece following meetings with executives from the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) on the sidelines of the Outbound Travel Mart (OTM) 2018 in Mumbai, India.

Indeed Indian cinema or Bollywood as it’s known, represents the world's largest film industry, with an annual output of 1,986 feature films as of 2017, making Bollywood bigger than Hollywood in terms of production.

Greece participated for the second consecutive year in the Travel Mart, considered the largest and most international gathering of travel trade buyers and professionals in India, in the hope of attracting Bollywood productions to Greece.

“India is a country of great interest to Greece as the people of both countries have deep cultural roots and shared historical references,” the GNTO said in an announcement, adding that the country has a huge cinema industry that already films footage in Greece for both music video clips and popular TV series.

The GNTO was honoured for its overall presence at the fair at the “Awards for Excellence 2018 and attracted visits from India Tourism Minister Alphons Kannanthanam, Maharashtra Tourism Minister Jaykumar Rawal and representatives of Indian tourism and travel groups and local airlines.

The GNTO represented Greece in the OTM 2018 fair for the second year within the framework of the Tourism Ministry’s strategy to promote Greece in new and upcoming markets as a top destination for tourism 365 days a year. The travel show ran January 18-20 at the Bombay Convention & Exhibition Center in Mumbai.

Greece participated in the fair with a 153 sq.m stand and a number of coexhibitors including the Central Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece (KEDE), the Hellenic Association of Tourist and Travel Agencies (HATTA) and Greek hotel chains.