ReTour launches its first focus group in Greece: Listening to the Voice of Mediterranean Tourism

Tourism professionals, hoteliers, business associations and local development bodies met at the National Technical University of Athens on 26 March 2026 in the ReTour first Focus Group to share their experiences and shape the future of a resilient tourism sector.

Publication Date
23/04/2026
Reading Time
2 minutes

On 26 March 2026, the ReTour project held its 1st Focus Group at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), hosted in the Central Library’s Multimedia and Tele-education Rooms at the Zografou Campus. The event was organised by Stratigon Finance, in close collaboration with NTUA, the project’s Lead Partner.

The session brought together 10 representatives from across the Greek tourism landscape, including hotel associations, regional tourism boards, business confederations, a social cooperative enterprise, and a cultural festival organisation, participating both in person and online via Webex in a hybrid format.

Why this Focus Group matters

ReTour’s research approach is grounded in a simple but powerful principle: before developing solutions, listen to those who know the challenges firsthand. The Focus Group is part of a broader primary research initiative spanning all six partner countries (Greece, Cyprus, Jordan, Lebanon, Italy, Türkiye), designed to:

  • Identify the most pressing risks and challenges faced by tourism MSMEs in the Mediterranean;
  • Explore the educational and training gaps that leave businesses unprepared for crises;
  • Gather the perspectives of policymakers and sector stakeholders;
  • Ensure that the project’s tools — from the Innovation Hub to the Training Platform are shaped around real needs.

While most consortium partners are conducting individual interviews, the Greek team opted to complement this approach with a focus group methodology enabling richer, collaborative discussion and the cross-pollination of ideas between participants from different sub-sectors and regions.

A wide-ranging conversation

Guided by a structured discussion script developed collaboratively by the consortium, participants engaged on three interconnected themes: crisis management and resilience, digital transformation and technology adoption, and sustainability and future skills. The 3 hour guided discussion moderated by Stratigon Finance, was preceded by a brief presentation of the ReTour project and a literature review on digital transformation and resilience among Mediterranean tourism MSMEs.

The diversity of participants from island tourism operators and mountain hoteliers to urban tour operators and cultural organisations, generated a multifaceted picture of what resilience means in practice across different tourism contexts in Greece.

What comes next

The findings from the Greek Focus Group will be analysed and integrated with results from interviews and focus groups conducted across the other partner countries. This comparative analysis will directly inform:

  • The Stakeholder Engagement Plan and the Resilience Framework for MSMEs (WP3);
  • The Tailored Technology Implementation Plans and pilot activities (WP4);
  • The content of the ReTour Training Platform and certification programmes (WP5);
  • The Policy Recommendation Reports to be addressed to national and regional authorities.

A full research report with findings from all countries will be published later in 2026. Stay tuned.

 

Last Update

23/04/2026