During the past several years, news articles about Greece have been tinged with phrases like “economic turmoil,” “bailout packages” and “austerity measures.” Although the Greek economy ended six years of recession in 2014, with unemployment easing and projected gross domestic product growth rates of 2.9 percent in 2015 and 3.7 percent in 2016, foreign investors and lending organizations remain cautious. “The situation is still very difficult, but there is hope,” said Pierre Moscovici, the European Union’s economic affairs commissioner.

For international meeting planners, especially those with U.S. dollar travel budgets, the economic problems in Greece offer a silver lining: lower lodging costs too tempting to ignore. The average overnight hotel rate in Greece was €84 ($92) at the end of 2014, making Greece the eighth least expensive hotel destination among 24 countries in Europe, according to the online travel booking site trivago.

Similarly, Athens, the major meetings destination in Greece, ranked 10th least expensive destination among 50 major European cities, with an average daily rate of €79 ($86), even when room rate increases of 11.3 percent from the previous year are included. At 5-star hotel properties in Athens, the average daily rate was just $166 in January compared to $513 in London, $490 in Paris and $324 in Rome, based on a survey by the travel site KAYAK. For conference and incentive group planners, the ability to offer participants deluxe hotel rooms with a view of the Acropolis at bargain prices was too good to pass up.

As a result, the total number of foreign visitors to Greece reached 20.8 million in the first 10 months of 2014, a 21.9 percent increase over 2013, with tourism revenues rising 10.6 percent. The Association of Hellenic Tourism Enterprises expects more than 27 million annual foreign visitors by 2021.

The country’s strong tourism market, which represents 20 percent of Greece’s GDP, is especially noticeable in its capital city. “Athens is a very vibrant, contemporary city,” said Olga Kefalogianni, Greek minister for tourism. “The year 2014 marked the complete comeback of Athens, with an increase in visitors of almost 30 percent, and the outlook for 2015 looks very positive,” she said, shortly before the January national elections. The country’s new government leaders have been meeting with their E.U. partners to renegotiate Greece’s huge loan, and this sea change in Greek politics will likely cause hospitality prices to drop even further.

With leisure and MICE travel to Athens thriving, Athenians are so appreciative of visitors that shop owners may offer unmarked discounts on local products or waiters may comp your glass of excellent Santoríni white wine. There are other reasons to visit. In addition to the city’s classical Greek, Byzantine and Ottoman monuments, there is also a modern Athens with new hotels, high-tech meeting venues, contemporary art museums and a spiffy metro system — plus enough buff-colored hills, fine-pebbled beaches, palm trees and seaside tavernas to saturate the city with a wonderful Mediterranean ambience.

Several 5-star hotels downtown and outside the city offer excellent accommodations and extensive meeting facilities. The 543-room InterContinental Athenaeum Athens Hotel recently opened new banquet venues on the sixth floor, including the Acropolis Terrace for outdoor dining. Located just south of the Acropolis, the property offers 28 meeting rooms, plenty of exhibit space and beautiful Greek artwork throughout. The hotel also manages the Ethniki Conference Centre, a two-minute walk down the block, with additional meeting and conference facilities.

Meeting room at
the Ethniki Conference Hall. © Intercontinental Hotels Group

The 141-year-old Hotel Grande Bretagne, across from Constitution Square, is an Athens landmark and a choice property among international VIPs and upscale leisure and business travelers. The hotel re-opened in 2003 after a three-year, $100 million restoration modernized all 320 guestrooms and suites, meeting facilities and function space. The property is part of Starwood Hotels’ Luxury Collection.

For groups wishing to meet outside the city, The Westin Athens Astir Palace Beach Resort offers a 5-star resort/meeting venue near the seaside town of Vouliagmeni, 15 miles south of Athens. Perched on a cliff overlooking the Saronic Gulf, all 159 guestrooms feature private balconies and easy access to pool and beach. With a dozen meeting rooms, a large congress hall and exhibition space, the hotel can accommodate groups of 1,000 participants.

Other 5-star properties suitable for groups include the Hilton Athens (506 rooms), Divani Caravel (471) and the Athens Ledra (314); suitable 4-star properties include the design-driven New Hotel Athens (79) and the Radisson Blu Park Hotel (150).

The newest (2010) and largest conference and exhibition venue in Greece is Metropolitan Expo, located close to Athens International Airport and offering 538,000 square feet of single-floor exhibit and meeting space for up to 20,000 participants. Other professional meeting venues include the Megaron Athens International Conference Centre, a modernist-style building opened in 1991 with 18 meeting rooms in the city center for 8,000 meeting delegates; and Zappeion Exhibition Hall, a historic structure which hosted fencing events in its circular atrium during the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 and has been an iconic city landmark ever since.

The 5-year-old Acropolis Museum, designed by Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi, displays artifacts from the Acropolis and makes a good venue for off-site group events. The museum offers private group tours, conference space and a 204-seat auditorium. Its second-floor restaurant, with views of the Acropolis, can seat 300 guests, with additional space in the outdoor section.

The National Museum of Contemporary Art expects to move into the former FIX brewery building mid-year. Originally designed by noted Greek architect Takis Zenetos after World War II, its signature, linear, horizontal glass windows were restored by architectural preservationists who created a stunning, eight-level gallery of Greek and European modern art. The entire museum, along with the top-floor restaurant with a view of the Parthenon, will offer another good venue for events.

Leaving Athens for one-day excursions is easy with the services of tour operators and the Athens Convention & Visitors Bureau. It is possible to visit Hydra, Aegina and Poros in one day by ferry and be back in Athens for a late dinner. Or schedule a three-hour, round-trip sail by private yacht to the nearby island of Fleves, with snorkeling in the pristine waters of the Saronic Gulf. Daytrips to the UNESCO World Heritage site at Delphi include touring the ruins of the Temple of Apollo and the Archaeological Museum. Closer to Athens, groups can drive one hour down the coast to Cape Sounion and the Temple of Poseidon, overlooking the Aegean Sea.

Having gained valuable experience hosting the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, the Convention & Visitors Bureau provides information for local conference, accommodations and transportation suppliers. Major upcoming conferences in the city include the International Conference on Energy and Environment in Ships (May), the International Conference on Geography (June), the 2nd International Conference on Demography and Population Studies (June), the 22nd International Congress on the Education of the Deaf (July) and the 29th European Federation of Food Science and Technology International Conference (November).

The 14-year-old Athens International Eleftherios Venizelos Airport has steadily increased its international routes to 82 cities. Visitors can access the airport, located 19 miles from downtown, by a suburban railway line (40 minutes, about $8.80) and taxi service (30 minutes, about $38).