Where hospitality meets real estate: three conversations to follow at Prodexpo 2026

October 13, 2026 – Athens, Greece

Every hotel begins as a real estate decision. Long before a brand story is written or a first guest walks through the door, someone has chosen a piece of land, found the capital to develop it and worked through the rules that govern what can be built there. In many ways, a conference about property is also a conference about the future of Greek hospitality.

Prodexpo 2026 returns to the Athens Conservatoire on 14 and 15 October for its 27th edition. Organised by Tsomokos Communications, it has long been the meeting point for Greece’s developers, investors and policymakers. This year’s programme turns to the market’s next chapter, with sessions on new sources of finance, changing investment priorities, housing, technology and climate resilience.

Travelworks is supporting this year’s edition. Of the many sessions on the agenda, three speak directly to the questions our clients face as they plan, open and reposition hotels.

Capital after the recovery fund

The Recovery and Resilience Facility has been one of the defining forces in the Greek economy in recent years, and as it draws to a close, the question of what comes next is pressing. The panel “Post-RRF macroeconomics: navigating the new era of real estate investment” brings together those who have channelled public funding and those who deploy private capital.

On stage are Orestis Kavalakis, Governor of the Recovery and Resilience Facility Coordination Agency at the Ministry of Economy and Finance; Ismini Papakirillou, CEO of the Hellenic Development Bank; Aristotelis Karytinos, CEO of Prodea Investments; Alexandra Fatsea, Deputy Managing Director of Intrum Hellas and Managing Director of Intrum REO Solutions; and Lila Pateraki, Chief Real Estate Services Officer at doValue Greece Real Estate Services. The discussion is chaired by Nikos Roussanoglou of Kathimerini.

For hospitality, the financing environment decides which projects move forward, how quickly and on what terms. Hotel owners weighing renovation, expansion or new development will want to understand where liquidity will come from once a major source of public support winds down, and which kinds of assets investors will favour.

Planning for Greece’s heavy industry

Tourism is the closest thing Greece has to a heavy industry. The new spatial planning framework for tourism will help decide where, how and at what scale the country’s hospitality sector grows over the coming decades. “Greece’s new tourism zoning plan: reshaping the country’s heavy industry” brings together the perspectives of government, hotel groups, advisors and operators.

The panel features Petros Varelidis, Secretary General for Natural Environment and Water at the Hellenic Ministry for Environment and Energy; Antonis Eliopoulos, President and CEO of Empiria Group; George P. Spanos, Vice President and CEO of Domes Resorts; Lila Tsitsogiannopoulou, Director of Real Estate Advisory at PwC; and Stelios Koutsivitis, President of SWOT Hospitality Management Company. It is chaired by Kostas Panagakis, Principal of Travelworks.

Zoning can sound technical, but its effects are deeply personal to every destination. The rules that shape land also shape brands. A well-planned destination protects the very qualities guests travel for, such as its landscape, its scale and its character. A hotel brand is only ever as strong as the place that holds it, which is why this conversation matters as much to marketers as it does to planners and investors.

Villages, people and the case for renewal

Across Greece, many villages are losing their residents even as interest in authentic, slower travel continues to grow. “Rethinking rural Greece: how reviving villages can drive demographic renewal, opportunities and risks” asks whether real estate can help reverse that trend, and what it would take to do so responsibly.

The speakers are Evangelos Kyriazopoulos, Secretary General for Spatial Planning and Urban Environment at the Ministry of Environment and Energy; Maria-Christina Averoff, Mayor of Metsovo; Dimitris Andriopoulos, CEO of Dimand; and Sotiris Tsoukarelis, Social Innovation Expert at The High Mountains Coop.

The panel pairs a mayor and a developer with a social innovation expert, and that mix captures what is at stake. Some of the most compelling hospitality concepts of recent years have grown out of small communities, from restored village houses to estates rooted in local agriculture. Yet the “risks” in the title are a fair reminder: revival lasts only when it brings people back to live, not just to visit. For hotels, the opportunity lies in becoming part of a place’s renewal rather than simply drawing on its charm.

Why these conversations belong together

Taken together, these three sessions trace the full arc of a hospitality project. Capital decides what is possible. Planning decides where and how. Place decides whether it will endure. Too often these questions are discussed in separate rooms, by people who rarely meet. Prodexpo brings them onto the same stage, and the hospitality sector has much to gain from listening closely.

We look forward to two days of informed and open dialogue at the Athens Conservatoire, and will share our reflections here once the conversations have taken place.