The Industrial Systems Institute successfully organized an infoday for Interreg Euro-MED Programme Libeccio project at the Department of Tourism Management of the University of Patras on March 5, 2025.

EuroMed LIBECCIO relies on the collection and analysis of Big Data related to the tourism sector and focuses on creating a more efficient, sustainable and resilient tourism for the Mediterranean area. In Greece the pilot sites have been identified in the coastal Aegialeia and the coastal zone of Palaeros – Astakos in Aetoloacarnania.

The infoday opened with the welcome speech of Mr Panagiotis Sakellaropoulos, Deputy Governor of Tourism Development of the Region of Western Greece, who emphasized the necessity of innovation in order to move towards a more sustainable and resilience tourism model driven by authenticity and overcoming problems of concentration and seasonality.

Then, the event host Prof. Apostolos Rafailidis, President of the Department of Tourism Management, discussed the changing environment that tourism has to deal with and the new approaches and solutions that tourism sector has to integrate, also emphasizing on educational needs of future employees in the sector.

The round of welcome speeches closed with Prof. Chrysostomos Stylios, Director of the Industrial Systems Institute, who emphasized on the technical push of Big Data Analytics and Machine Learning that could help reshape the sector and enhance its sustainability overall.

The EuroMed Tourism Innovation Platform of Libeccio project was the focus of the presentation of Dr Athanasios Kalogeras, Research Director at the Industrial Systems Institute. He presented the identity of the Libeccio project and its Quadruple Helix network under formation, engaging policy maker, tourism enterprises, academia and general public.

Mr Ioannis Mardikis, EPLO talked about Dialogue4Tourism project related to Sustainable Tourism in EuroMed, and emphasized on the opportunities presented for Greece in the new changing conditions for tourism sector, as well as learning from bad experiences of other countries that led to non sustainable models.

Finally, Mr Nikitas Kalogeropoulos of the Industrial Systems Institute presented the Libeccio approach towards Big Data Analytics and the development of a data driven Destination Management Support System for EuroMed territories.

During the discussion with stakeholders Mr Christos Kanellis, president of the Union of Hotel Owners of Achaia, referred to the needs for new answers in tourism sectoral challenges, and expressed the belief that projects like Libeccio can contribute to this direction.