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Everyone wants to grow old, nobody wants to be old.

Endurance sports in older age?

20 years is a long time. And especially if you are already 50 years old or even more. Well, I’m just 46 years old, but I have been working for more than 20 years with topics like aging, getting old and what I can oppose to my biological and psychological disintegration. I always keep in mind a word of a friend of mine – Prof. Dr. med. János Winkler: „getting 120 years old isn’t that difficult, change your habit and behave is hard…“

„Athletes no longer live, they only die healthier.“ is something popularly known but is it true?

read more about this in my blog article – click here

1. Let´s Go Europe – International exchange of administrative staff Berlin „LoGo Europe“
2. Organizational development of an educational institution (i will report about this in my next article – so stay tuned)

Let´s Go Europe – International exchange of administrative staff Berlin „LoGo Europe!“

„LoGo Europe!“ and Berlin districts…

As part of the „LoGo Europe!“ internship program, this year 31 staff members of the administrations in took part in the program throughout Berlin, and took up the internship in 21 different locations. For example, from the district of Berlin Mitte there were seven colleagues who have been collecting their European experiences since September in Istanbul, Zurich, Vienna, Malmö and Zagreb.

On average, the interns spend a month with a foreign partner city and sit there in the administration together with colleagues of the receiving country.

You have to know that in the early days of these staff exchange programs, these were financed by the EU. Berlin, however, did not hesitate to continue the concept independently and to finance it after the end of EU financing. In my opinion this is very exemplary and successfully meet the expectations and results as i could see this week. 

The final event of this program took place on November 27, 2018 in the historic town hall Schöneberg in Berlin.

This town hall is famous not only by its heritage look but also  because John F. Kennedy the former U.S. President. „Ich bin ein Berliner„ (German pronunciation: [ˈʔɪç ˈbɪn ʔaɪn bɛɐ̯ˈliːnɐ], „I am a Berliner„) is a quotation of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, in a speech given on June 26, 1963, in West Berlin.

At 4:00 pm, the interns, representatives of the administration and representatives of some of the host countries, such as Austria, Italy, Great Britain and Poland, met.

Somewhat a pity I found the weak cast of leadership from Berlin itself. In addition to Gerryy Woop the state secretary for europe, only two district mayor was present there. Since the districts have so-called European Commissioners, often they took the representative task. Nevertheless, in a city like Berlin, I would have liked more participating district mayors.

Well, no matter it was a very successful and dignified event at the historical city hall Schöneberg.

The guests were greeted by district mayor Angelika Schöttler and Gerry Woop who is state secretary for Europe – he spoke the greeting word.

The importance of the program was underlined and credibly from my perception, the reasons and objectives clearly underlined as well.

Afterwards Cordula Kaatz introduced the importance to knowledge management by an very interesting impulse speech.

This was followed by the greetings of the partner administrations with Dr. Ing. Christian Wimmer from Austria (Vienna), Sharon Davidson from London (Borough of Barnet), Magdalena Rupek from Poland (Koszalin) and Daniela Messina from Italy (Palermo). Especially Dr. Wimmer explained not just the importance of such programs but also showed us some impressive numbers about this topic in Austria.

Then each graduate received a certificate – the so-called Europass. The Europass records the knowledge and skills acquired in another European country and is issued by cedefop. 

Cedefop is one of the EU’s decentralised agencies. Founded (1) in 1975 and based in Greece since 1995, Cedefop supports development of European vocational education and training (VET) policies and contributes to their implementation. The agency is helping the European Commission, EU Member States and the social partners to develop the right European VET policies.

Why is that important?

Europe’s strategy for 2020 (2) is a route for smart, sustainable and inclusive economic growth through knowledge and innovation, which sets an employment rate target of 75%.

The success of this strategy depends on the skills of Europe’s workforce. Enterprises need people with the skills required to compete and provide high-quality goods and services.

People need the right qualifications to find jobs. People with low levels of or no qualification are nearly three times more likely to be unemployed than those with high qualifications. In the EU, around 75 million people, nearly a third of the working population, have low levels of or no qualification. Too many young people, around 15%, leave school without any qualifications.

But back to the event, selected 5 interns had the opportunity to explain their findings and experiences in the context of short presentations or short presentations.

As far as I could tell the participants were not just „ordinary officials“ It was a colorful mix, in terms of gender, age structure and especially the functions. Thus, younger and older members of the administration would be in the program, just as there were executives and senior officials in the program as interns. It was a fine example of working diversity, as were the themed areas. From social work to refugee assistance to the public office and the adult education center.

When i was cycling for my initiative 6300 km from Norway to greece in autumn this year i also passed by Zurich in Switzerland. There, in my home stay accommodation i meet one night a young girl from berlin. We had an very inspiring chat and discussed nearly the whole world up to 3:00 am. She was one of the participants of this program – Sandra Schulz.

Sandra who is responsible for the quality management at the „Volkshochschule (VHS) Berlin Mitte“ (adult education centre Berlin center) was in Zurich attending the VHS Zurich for 4 Weeks. (see her Blog *in german language*)

Remark: such learning institutions in Germany, Switzerland and Austria are usually funded on a local level and provide non-credit courses for adults in:

• general education
• vocational education
• political education
• German as a second language (especially for immigrants)
• integration courses (especially for newly arrived refugees)
• various foreign languages
• various forms of art
• information technology
• health education
• preparatory classes for school exams (especially for the Abitur or Matura)

This type of educational centers are currently most widespread in Germany. Because they offer preparatory classes for school exams, in Germany these schools also function as the equivalent of adult high schools in other countries. 

In Germany we have around 900 of such schools. More than 9 million participants with over 18 million hours lessons taking part. There are more than 700000 classes/events a year.

The attendees not only go to other cities just for fun. They leave the family at home like Sandra who have 3 children. They get into an unknown situation as no one knows before how the exchange there will work exactly. Some even are faced to other languages, different cultures and complete new surrounding without anyone they know. Challenges are normal in such programs i´ill say. 

Sandra was also one of the 5 who are promoted to introduce their experience on this exchange program so invited me together with her Europe Commissioner to attend the event as guest which was a great honor for me. The same time my function was to offer her a professional feedback on her presentation as she not like such kind of „stay in the spotlight“ situations. And of course we exchange also my experience on speeches to support her preparation. 

She did very well, even she don’t like it. But she introduced not only the facts and learning points. She also shows the exchange results – what her institute could learn from zurich and what the zurich institute could learn from here. Some ideas already taken into action she told us. 

In total my feeling after all the speeches and introductions of the leaders and government representatives are clear: Such cooperations help to build trust between administrations, to create common interfaces and to learn from each other across borders. It is once again a beautiful example of: „alone you can achieve much, together with everything else“

At the actual situation of europe and especially the European union i strongly believe we need more to such transnational collaborations. It´s not only work experiance exchange – it´s build up cultural bridges, life experiance and tourism dreams. 

But most impressive to me are the fact that all the participants brought home several clear structured results they will implement into their direct work in their departments to improve their work. 

Respect to Berlin and all cities are participating on such kind of formats. 

Thank you Bulgaria

First of all, I would like to thank the hosts and organizers – the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Bulgaria and UNWTO for such a professional, well organized and successful event in Sofia / Bulgaria.

My name is Kai Markus Xiong, i´m an 45 year old german who is actively activist and ultra athlete but the same time keynote speaker and consultant. Due my international experience i realized my own life dream in 2017 – running the silk road.

My motto:

you can think it – you can do it

We all a part of a change and we all have the power for change….  Today i will report about my attendance at the „2nd International Congress on World Civilizations and Historic Routes„

Enjoy reading and know i never read double – so all correct spelling and gramma is accidentally and not on purpose 😉

Even before my departure from Germany, my boarding pass had been sent by email – that rarely happens at major events. A, this has a nice reminder function and it is a discharge for me as a traveler.

An Organized Airport pick up not need to be mentioned, but the fact that the pickup crews seemed to be well trained. This I noticed by an interesting exchange about the country and people but belly on the serious and open minded hospitality. I felt more like visiting friends than traveling to an international conference. Enriched with impressions to a great history, local impressions, delicious food and interesting conversations.

Bulgaria – a country that is often presented in the media only negative and misrepresented. These representations create a certain anxiety which, of course, is based on ignorance.

Immediately after my late arrival in Sofia (due to the late departure in Hamburg) i wanted to break down my own prejudices.

So it went as always for running. Running in an old town, meeting other runners and experiencing the flair is unique. Overcoming the fear through the darkness.

Through the safe streets, mostly well lit I passed by some of the cultural monuments and noticed very quickly: Here is history to experience. Also the conversation with people on my run was interesting. Unbelieving eyes and statements positively hit me. I am committed to breaking down prejudices and I believe that Bulgaria is a great country, the first impressions and conversations were all great and inspiring and I’m curious about this city.

The reaction: „What, it is rare that Germans find something good here and give us a chance to show that most people here are great and good people“ That was very shameful for me and continues to motivate me for this topic to fight.

The security levels were set very high and still not disturbing. With increased security, we get a negative impression. Not so in Sofia. Even armed security on my hotel floor wasn’t disturbing. Due the fact an representative on Minister level was at the same floor i could totally understand. We would do the same here as well – maybe i could not stay at the same floor like a minister when it comes to international conference in Germany?

Why an ultra athlete and activist has to attend – why I’m there?

Running was always only an „vehicle“ as i said. I experienced  the historical routes, „the silk road“ on my almost 7000 miles long „Culture Bridge Run“ from Hamburg in Germany to Shanghai in China. Thus, it is me to tell of practical experiences, experiences and the ups and downs. So i was  i could deliver an practical impression and live report with wicht the participants „see one of the historical routes in action“. In addition, my speeches are highly motivating and inspiring. A fact that should never be missed at conferences.

What the organizers want to reach there?

A look to the invitations of the organizers says:

1. explore the possible ways in which world civilizations could be brought to life through tourism
2. making use of the networks developed along historic routes.
3. focus on addressing how tourism along these routes can play a leading role in creating new socio-economic opportunities
4. safeguarding and promoting tangible and intangible ancient heritage on development at local, regional and national level while 
5. opportunity to build upon the great cultural wealth spanning along the ancient routes
6. learn from different experiences and generate synergies

„… Launched in 2017 as a joint initiative between UNWTO and the European Union, the UNWTO’s Western Silk Road focuses on the development and diversification of the Western link of the Silk Road, an area geographically defined to primarily include European Union Member States, but also partner countries located along the Mediterranean basin, the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. The collaborative initiative integrates both a product development and capacity building components to successfully design strategies to foster sustainable tourism development along the Western Silk Road, with tangible and intangible Silk Road heritage as a unifying theme. …“

But do the goals meet the expectations?

Summarized i will answer this question with „Yes“! But why?

From my experience the main problems in formats and development at this level, besides financial and political issues are information gaps.

Such like culture knowledge gaps, gaps about others goals or pressure, lack of information who is working on the same problem like we do…

To fill these gaps, the format was an outstanding platform. The speeches focused on these points and the speakers were able to contribute to a lively exchange.

I talked with a lot of participants, asked about their expectations and later on about the result. Nearly everyone i talked with agreed that it was not only worth to attend, it was also necessary to hold this conference.

Most feedback has been like: „i got solutions on problems i just work on“ or „i get inspiration for continue what i just do and find new directions to develop“ or such „I’m so happy that this format not have cultural gaps, everyone can easy talk with anyone. No matter the cultural or hierarchy.

Outstanding examples

Surprisingly this time all speeches are aired on youtube live. So if you want get a personal impression you will find the link below…

Let me name some of the outstanding speeches and presentations i experienced there. From my consultant perspective they are like:

• Exploring the role of governments and regional policies in the development of historic routes (Moderated by Ms. Sofia Mavratzas, Editor-In-Chief, CNN Greece)

or one of my favorites wich is moderated by John Bell:

• Creating Signature Cultural Tourism Experiences along the Historic Routes and World Civilizations (by Mr. John Bell, Travel Journalist and Writer)

John is an extraordinary person who has not only huge experience but also matching humor to boost formats in a big way. I particularly liked that everyone in the room was 100% attentive. John manages to involve people – great!

My personal highlights

There are two personal highlights

One is the presentation of Mr. Jens Thraenhart, Executive Director – Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) at his topic:

“Successful promotion and branding of a historic route”

His speech was not only inspiring. He meet the expectations of new marketing, new media, travelers, bloggers and locals. Combine all in a great frame work, smart and advanced. Really touching. Also as speaker he is amazing. That what Jens told and taught us all was highest level and he surpasses the expectations of the guests by a far. I was very happy he had time at the technical tour on the bus. So we could exchange informations and discussed further opportunities. Amazing guy.

I can’t write anything which is better than the youtube video you can directly see his speech… Link see below…

My other highlight was a young lady from India. „Its my first international travel…“ she told me. But she is a person who „stand up and fight“ fight for a better world. If it comes to sustainability then her eyes sparkle, her whole heart shines. So she stand up at the high level meeting and asked the audience by ministers how they push sustainability in tourism and which role this plays. Everyone was happy she talked about and also the delegated ones are happy to be able to answer her questions which she brought fresh and motivated without any without any accusations or bad thoughts.

Fast she get into all the groups and was a welcome conversation partner and i could see everyone enjoy to talk with her and her inspiring way of communication – includes me – absolutely. As co founder of Igloopupa.com she will be a part of change.

Here you see her actual ideas but there is much more power in her than that. Amazing…

Besides that an other impressive speech delivered by Mr. Barnaby Davies , Co-founder, Eastguides West

Together

My own summarize of the congress is the word

TOGETHER

On our technical tour we found this art and i push my self to make a picture there – it ends up what i expected – we all go there and show the diversity and our „together“ as a new formed group of passioned and motivated game changers…

Speeches on Video

One new surprising offer was the live stream on youtube of all the speeches and presentations.

Here you can find the two days of the speeches. My speech you will find at DAY II

Day I

Day II

Video starts at my session.

If you want see Mr. Jens Thraenhart, Executive Director – Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) than go back to the beginning.

Improvement possibilities

Also the event was a great success i would like to take the opportunity to point out some suggestions for improvement.

• Communication with relevant key person
  Use break times efficiently. The speakers should be available not only for pictures but also for conservations – maybe at appointed places everyone know.
• Mixed Groups
  Encouraging group formation (people often sit together at congresses, who already have a good and often exchanged experience.) The need for a mix is ​​highly important, which is why table meals could be organized at mealtimes, seating plans could be similar but often difficult to implement from a political point of view.)Organized swapping of table neighbors at dinners (for example, new constellations could be set up for the dessert, which is easy and quick to implement, allowing for better meshing)
• Awareness of each and event
  awareness of such events would be much higher if the organizers offers the related hashtags in several languages. People will post a lot during and after the events. Offer me my hashtags in local languages or at least in main languages like english, Russian, chinese, Spanish would increase the awareness – on some conferences there are students with iPads. You can go to them and ask for suitable hashtags on related topics in several languages – they check for you and translate the hashtag. Simple but efficient.
• Resources like paper
  An other step should be we all think about our business cards. Sustainability starts with small steps. I calculated approximately around 5 KG paper only by business cards exchange the owner. In our new technology possibilities this could be a first step away from waste resources. And there are solutions make it efficient and easy.
• Resources like Paper
  The same is related to our health. I love all kind of food – we all need to care more on order what we eat. Not only on conferences food is waste, also in private homes, normal restaurants and so on. As organizer of events you can play a leading role to push this topic and remind on our all obligation for the future.
• Resources like Flights
  Often people fly business class. Everyone need to do what they can agree themselves. I travel a lot, but I’m healthy and normal size – i not fly business class. The seats of Business class take the space of 2-3 others. Some people will defiantly need that but most of us not. Think about this when you booking a flight. Small change big result.

Impressions of the conference

• 16th November 2018
• 09:50 – 10:30 AM

Cultural heritage lies at the very heart of the collective memory and identity of the citizens of the world. Destinations that boast archaeological sites, ancient architecture, folklore traditions and arts and that find themselves along these ancient routes can assume the role of catalysts for exchange of experience between peoples and cultures through tourism development, and thereby promote sustainable growth, prosperity and peace in their own regions.

Recognizing the above, the Congress will explore the possible ways in which world civilizations could be brought to life through tourism, in particular by making use of the networks developed along historic routes. The congress will also focus on adressing how tourism along these routes can play a leading role in creating new socio-economic opportunities for development at local, regional and national level while safeguarding and promoting tangible and intangible ancient heritage. Participants will have the opportunity to build upon the great cultural wealth spanning along the ancient routes, learn from different experiences and generate synergies among themselves and between several networks developed alongside the ancient cultural routes.

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more information you will find on the official page of UNWTO:

2nd International Congress on World Civilizations and Historic Routes | Technical Cooperation and Silk Road

silkroad.unwto.org

Impressions of Thessaloniki

Hello, my name is Kai Markus Xiong, a 45 year old German with a Chinese name.

As a father and husband I am also keynote speaker and ultrathlete. My strength is to help people achieve their goals – even if the situation seems hopeless. In 2017, I made myself this call and ran as a cultural bridge from Hamburg in Germany to Shanghai in China. 12000 km along the Silk Road through 8 countries ….

Today you read in my blog about the experiences at 8^th UNWTO International Meeting on Silk Road Tourism in Thessaloniki, Greece and my in-depth conclusion about whether such events are worthwhile and necessary …

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the Ministry of Tourism of Greece and the Region of Central Macedonia partnered together to organize the 8^th UNWTO International Meeting on Silk Road Tourism in Thessaloniki, Greece on 10-12 October 2018.

This international Silk Road meeting was hosted for the very first time by a European Silk Road Member State.

Is there any result at all on such international big meetings?

A question which is asked often by my clients or international companies.

Bring it to the point: I firmly believe that meetings of this kind at this level are not only fruitful for the development of tourism, but also a setting of social development and another building block for the preservation of peace in the world. In order to shed some light on this, I describe my personal experiences as a participant and speaker on this event.

Who are the participants and goals

First, it is important for you to know that I was not the typical participant of this circle. As an athlete and activist who traveled by bicycle over 12 countries over a distance of 6300 km I was certainly the exotic. I was invited by the UNWTO directly to report about my experiences „https://www.runmysilkroad.com“ 12000 km cultural marathon along the Silk Road.

So to speak, an insight into the Silk Roads practice of a traveling and activist.

Usually, government agencies such as representatives of tourism ministries and the private and academic sector in addition of international organizations like WorldBank or UNESCO meet here. To discusses the problems, challenges and opportunities of sustainable tourism development.

SDG´s at this event?

At the same time, however, support for achieving the goals of the so-called 17 SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) is taken into account. More about this you can find here:

Tourism for SDGs ? Welcome To The Tourism For SDGs Platform!

tourism4sdgs.org

Program of the event

To get an insight into the work a look at the program (klick here for full program) is helpful.

My focus is on the building blocks of the meeting, and it is particularly important to mention that all parts of the event were important and, in my view, the program’s composition contributed to its effectiveness and success.

We arrived at 9th October in Thessaloniki and as i said i arrived by bike – after 6300 km in sport clothes and on a saddle it was quite unreal to wear a suit, dressed for conference and prepare to sit in a conference. But when i arrived at the hotel the faces are like frozen. 5 Star hotels not expect sweating athlete, naughty park his bike at the place normally is reserved for big SUV´s and sports cars and say confident: „There supposed to be a reservation for my name!“

The reply: „You sure you have a reservation here?“  hahaha i know this situation good enough. Out of the box and into the reality. After a short discussion the lady at the reception found my name and was happy to see I’m invited by UNWTO. But we not finished. I want to know where to „park“ my bike. All places they show me are not suitable for me. The bike is not mine and as i have to return it to my supporter i want ensure its with me as much as possible. So i require to bring it to my room. This was too much. A longer discussion starts but finally the hotel and the management are very kind and flexible and allowed me to bring it to the 5th floor. Nothing bad with this situation – it just shows the need of training if you want develop a new path of tourism like the cyclists. Different clients – different needs. Summarized my stay there was pretty well and i feel welcomed.

Silk Road Ministerial Round table

On Wednesday, 10 October at Thessaloniki Concert Hall  it starts with a Silk Road Ministerial Round table “The Silk Road within a globalized tourism framework: tourism priorities, regional development plans and the role of the historic routes”. Participants are Tourism Ministers and Heads of National Tourism Administrations from the Silk Road Member States, representatives of International Organizations like WorldBank or UNESCO and leading representatives from the private sector.

 

Focused on assessing the geopolitical potential of the Silk Road, with a special emphasis placed on its role as a transnational tourism route.

 

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Signing of a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) 

However, since I did not know or have studied the role of Greece in relation to the Silk Road, like many others, this part was not only exciting but also enabled me to think about concrete solutions to upcoming problems. For example, the mass tourism on the beaches and how the regions in the interior of the country can participate in tourism boom.

No lunch for me…

I participate at this event to do my job to make the report on my cultural marathon as exciting and inspiring as possible, but also to influence and build a network.

Therefore, it is not surprising that I completely lost sight of lunch in order to meet interesting people like Dr. Ahmed Eiweida of the World Bank to entertain. During our conversations that day and the day after i realized that the fight against poverty is not just due to its job at the World Bank but is a matter of the heart for him. And besides that he is a amazing hobby photographer and person. At this moment i reduced some of my own prejudice about finance and banks – even i worked for so many years in finance and banks myself. The idea of world bank and people like Ahmed is a different story and I’m appreciate to learn new things about the needs of such institutions.

Luckily I am used by my two initiatives often get along without food and still be in a good mood.

The same time i meet a friend who helped me in the background of my running initiative in russia. Together with a big running association based in Moscow i get such an amazing support all around my route in russia. Even one of my sponsors who visit me in volgograd changed their mind about russia once they realized the real life. I was in so many places, meet rich and poor people, educated and not educated ones. And i have to say: it´s worth to travel there!

We never meet in person but now was the time – it was really great and i was so thankful to meet him. Russia was a country i had a lot of bad thoughts, influenced by one-sided media coverage. But after running almost one month, meet hundreds of people and share my experience with many Russians but also learn about their culture i started to like this country.

When I say that, be sure I’m not naive. I just learned that in every country in the world there is nothing positive or negative. But differentiating this helps to reduce aggressiveness and make people ready for discussions and solutions. What we should heed in the education of children we should bring in the everyday life of the policy also more often to validity. Then we would be able to solve many conflicts faster and more sustainably. Therefore, it was particularly good to see that here at the congress Russians and Ukrainians worked together on solutions, liked each other and laughed together. And this on a governmental and private sector level.

Panel sessions 1 and 2 – my part is coming

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But i was not the only one at this panel, my other colleague speakers are:

• Mr. Peter DeBrine, Senior Project Officer, Sustainable Tourism, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, 
• Dr. Ahmed Eiweida, Global Coordinator for Cultural Heritage & Sustainable Tourism, World Bank, 
• Mr. Robert Travers, UNWTO Expert: “The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road: tourism opportunities and impacts”
• Ms. Katerina Mouzouraki, Communications Manager, Trans Adriatic Pipeline, Greece
• Mr. Kai Markus Xiong, Extreme Athlete and Activist, “Run My Silk Road”
• Mr. Nikolaus Lohmann, CEO, Earth TV

 

Especially the lectures of the UNESCO, World Bank and Earth TV had interested me – here I could learn a lot new but also see the far-reaching consequences of tourism. It’s just more than the travel industry. Through Earth TV, I rediscovered the idea of the „Window to the World“ and also see a possibility here, people who do not want to travel or can participate in the interesting and beautiful places in the world.

Anklicken um

The coffee break i used again to have some unique conversations – for instant with the Deputy Prime Minster of the Republik of Uzbekistan. One of my favorite countries on my Silk Road Run.

 

The 2nd panel (17:00 – 18:30) sounded just as interesting, but I was stuck in the conversation outside the conference room. And so I could only attend the lecture of Dr. Joseph M. Cheer from Australia and Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis.

Anklicken um

 

However, this brought me all the more to think about. Resilience

• Dr. Joseph M. Cheer, Lecturer, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia – Destination Resilience 
• Ms. Irini Sidiropoulou, Sales Manager North Greece & Ionian Islands, Aegean Airlines
• Mr. Andrew Aley, Head, Experience Businesses – Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), TripAdvisor
• Ms. Voula Patoulidou, President, Thessaloniki Tourism Organization
• Ms. Helene Lloyd, Director, TMI Consultancy
• Ms. Maria Founta, Head of Marketing in CEE, Google
• Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis, Head, Department of Tourism and Hospitality, Faculty of Management, Bournemouth University

As i was connected with Prof. Dimitrios Buhalis longer time already at LinkedIn it was a great opportunity to listen his part at the panel.

Concert at the Rotunda World Heritage

As usual at such meetings, the cultural part can not be missing. We had the chance to experience a very exclusive concert in the Rotunda. Incidentally, the Rotunda is also one of UNESCO’s World Heritage and has cast a spell over me.

Die Rotunde – Thessaloniki.travel

thessaloniki.travel

Anklicken um

We got this chance after the official meetings.

The question that often comes up is: Does it have to be, it only costs money again!?.

Yes, it has to be! That’s at least my own opinion, which I also like to justify.

For one thing, the expatriate cities / countries are often busy weeks if not months. This enormous effort is worthy of appreciation. What can be done better than a large group of international decision-makers to show their own culture. The participants are only human – but these people also have Facebook, Instagram or Wechat and Weibo, Telegram and other social media channels. Only with usually a little more following. Therefore, it is a great advantage if a country or a region may present itself in such a way – with it in very beautiful way thousands, hundred thousands or even millions humans are reached. Not to mention the reporting in the respective home countries.

On the other hand, it is a learning by doing. I was able to observe the participants closely and often saw a notebook or mobile phone in which ideas and suggestions from the performances for their own country were noted. I think there are reasons more, but I think these two are already valid enough.

the 2nd day – to continue 

To make it short – the agenda of the second and third day you can see at the Programme.

the father…

Another great encounter was with Father Christodoulos (Χριστόδουλος Παπακώστας) and Dimitra Georgitsi. Town twinning with young people together as a running-bike project, developing new ideas for the integration of refugees and linking social commitment with modern ideas. This will be your own story here, but so much anticipated: the power I felt here was enormously contagious and motivating.

My own initiative had suddenly become even more meaningful – a great affirmation that many can be inspired and infect.

Conclusion of the entry question…

Yes, I am convinced of this format and this type of meeting as I experienced it is important. In brief, the Günden adds:

1. the exchange of the industry
Government agencies and the private sector can discuss problems and solutions, develop solutions and learn from each other’s best practices

2. Development of new areas
The participants were able to deal with new topics that were not known to everyone. This leads to an improvement of one’s own status and multilateral connections

3. Prejudices are dismantled
This format, in which so many countries were represented, gave the opportunity to perceive from their own perspective what is happening „elsewhere“. Critical discussions and lively exchange led to an open and constructive basis away from the political or business daily routine.

4. Initiatives are encouraged
By the participation of initiators like myself, the practical relevance and the connection to the actual object – in this case the tourist is held. We not only feel confirmed, we can also help shape it. This leads to a higher satisfaction and a constant improvement.

5. Sustainability is encouraged
The best practice and flagship projects strongly promote the sustainability of the industry. There was a real pull to recognize – who has better and more concrete ideas to deliver? What can others learn from it? And how is the industry continuing to develop?

Remark:
Of course, all of this is only possible with stringent preparation, consideration for everyone involved and a well thought-out format like this.

coming next – 2nd International Congress on World Civilizations and Historic Routes

In the end, I was completely flashed when I was invited as a keynote speaker for the 2nd International Congress on World Civilizations and Historic Routes in Sofia / Bulgaria on 15-16.11.2018.

So I’m sitting here today and I’ll start preparing for the next chance right after this report.

Thank you Greece, thank you Thessaloniki, thank you UNWTO for another chance to expand my commitment and contribute my knowledge and skills.

Article by:

Kai Markus Xiong – key-note speaker – Moderator – Trainer

Contactmail: Info@https://www.runmysilkroad.com