The new strategy was announced by ministerial officials from the culture and tourism ministries of Greece, Turkey and Croatia during the annual Routes Tourism Mediterranean Conference on Monday.

“In 2011 we are seeing increased flights in non-peak seasons, while expanding budgets and investments to new historical destinations like Van, Mardin and Urfa” said Levent Demirel, deputy director of promotion at the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

“We’re heavily supporting low-costs airlines, making traveling more flexible and expanding to the east, while offering undiscovered new tourist alternatives at more than simply sea resorts,” he told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

Other tourist officials also confirmed this trend, effectively demonstrating that new tourism strategies are spreading to most of southeastern Europe.

While Denis Ivosevic, a spokesperson for the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Tourism, confirmed the need to expand into a slightly higher-budget niche market of tourism as can be found in Italy, the Scientific Advisor for the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Christos Petreas, also pointed toward an important new “redefinition of tourism.”

“We will distribute tourism across our country, create all-year-round activities and target world markets as part of the EU plan to attract global travelers more broadly,” according to Petreas.

“We’ve been engaging in face to face negotiations, increased investments and reduced the Value Added Tax [VAT] to 6 percent,” he told the Daily News.

Bridging private and public

Officials speaking on the behalf of various tourism ministries and company representatives appeared to stress a similar message of “renewal” during the three-day conference at the Gloria Hotel in Antalya.

“There is a real re-invention of tourism, which deals with improved coordination of investments and more collaboration between the public and private sectors,” said Ivosevic. “This is a restructuring and repositioning model where more information symmetry is created, while also attracting tour operators and companies.”

“Traditionally airports worked in a very governmental fashion, while today airports are increasingly attracting more investors and partners, while also collaborating with the aviation sector,” said Gerard Brown, tourism development director at Routes.

The main problem with some countries has been that their infrastructure was not private, while certain national carriers were prioritized over other competitors, according to Nigel Mayes, vice president of Routes.

“This is now really changing in the region, and we’re seeing less landing fees, public sector and inefficiencies.”