ReTour and Develop Athens: Building Bridges for Tourism in Athens

The ReTour team held a working meeting with Develop Athens S.A., one of the project’s Associated Partners. The meeting aimed to establish a mutually accepted framework for collaboration, focused on two complementary objectives: engaging the network of tourist SMEs of the Municipality of Athens as a testing ground for ReTour’s tools, and positioning Develop Athens itself as a key stakeholder in the project’s outputs and deliverables. A set of follow-up activities for collaboration among the partners is planned.

Publication Date
10/08/2026
Reading Time
2 minutes

On 19 June 2026, the ReTour team held a working meeting with Develop Athens S.A., one of the project’s Associated Partners.

Stratigon Finance was represented by Ms. Evangelia Daratsanou, Project Manager & Researcher-Trainer, and the Lead Partner NTUA by Mr. Anastasios Zafeiropoulos, Researcher and Communication Manager. Develop Athens was represented by Mr. Giorgos Stefas, Head of EU Projects Department.

A Collaboration Framework with Substance

The meeting aimed to establish a mutually accepted framework for collaboration, focused on two complementary objectives: engaging the network of tourist SMEs of the Municipality of Athens as a testing ground for ReTour’s tools, and positioning Develop Athens itself as a key stakeholder in the project’s outputs and deliverables. These range from the Resilience Community Manifesto and AI/IoT pilot projects to the Innovation Workshop planned for Athens in collaboration with the Region of Attica.

The meeting was highly constructive. The collaboration proposal has been unanimously agreed upon at working level. Currently, it is being formally submitted for approval by the Board of Directors of Develop Athens, as the next step toward full activation of the partnership.

Next Step: Four Projects, One Agenda

Develop Athens will participate in joint meetings bringing together three Interreg NEXT MED tourism programmes,  ReTour, ClusterAtlas4Med & CReSInMed, and Develop Athens’ own ERASMUS+ Alliances for Skills project “BET – Alliance for Skills, Sustainability, and Innovation in Emerging Tourism Types”.

The objective is to explore every possible synergy so that the multiplier effect and overall impact are maximized for tourist businesses across Attica and the wider Mediterranean.

Develop Athens brings to ReTour something invaluable: direct access to the tourist business community of the Municipality of Athens. As the city’s development and destination management agency, it operates at the intersection of local governance and the private sector. These characteristics make it the ideal partner to connect ReTour’s tools and outputs with the SMEs that need them most.

Last Update

10/08/2026