Frustration is spilling into barely disguised anger, as the Greek government announces yet another delay in the long-promised opening of the Greek National Tourism Organisation’s (GNTO) Melbourne office at the Greek Community of Melbourne (GCM).
“It’s all become a little Byzantine,” one GCM board member told Neos Kosmos on condition of anonymity.
“They [Greek government] just do not respect the diaspora. We are offering rent-free offices in the centre of Melbourne, one of the world’s great metropolises, and home to one of the world’s largest Greek diaspora populations. The Greeks just don’t get it!”
The board member stressed the importance of positioning the GNTO in “one of the world’s great economies, Australia, in one of the world’s greatest economic regions, Asia.”
Earlier this year, GNTO Secretary General Andreas Fiorentinos assured GCM President Bill Papastergiadis that the process was progressing.
“The process for the selection and placement of an executive, who will assume the position of Head of the Office, is underway and is expected to be completed shortly,” he said in February.
Fiorentinos thanked the GCM for providing two years of rent-free office space, calling the offer “crucial for the launch of its operation,” and described Australia as a “strategic market” for Greek tourism.
Despite these assurances, staffing and operational delays mean the long-awaited reopening has again been pushed back to an unknown date. “The process is moving forward,” GNTO insists. But the GCM’s growing impatience is clear.
Australian tourism to Greece has more than doubled in recent years, from around 180,000 in 2018 to over 350,000 annually, among the highest-spending visitors in Greece.
The official statement, the GCM reiterated its commitment:
“The Greek Community of Melbourne stands ready to confirm its commitment to hosting the GNTO in The Greek Centre. It confirms it is offering to help furnish the office and a rent-free period.
The Greek government has committed on a number of occasions for the GNTO to set up its offices in The Greek Centre, both through correspondence and publicly by the former Greek Minister for Tourism, Vassilis Kikilias, during the 2023 Antipodes Festival.
In their 26 February 2025 letter, the GNTO updated the GCM that “the process for selecting and appointing the executive who will take up the position of Head of Mission is currently underway and is expected to be completed shortly” and reaffirmed that the GCM’s commitment to host them in The Greek Centre was of “great importance to commencement of operations.”
News of this agreement has been published multiple times across both Greek and Greek Australian media. We attach copies of only a small sample of this media coverage.
The GCM is concerned by this delay and highlights the systemic delays and bureaucratic difficulties of Greece. This proposal has been in conversation with multiple Greek governments for well over seven years.
The GCM looks forward to a timely response from the GNTO that will allow this partnership to progress.
Board of Management
Greek Community of Melbourne.”
News of the agreement has been widely published in both Greek and diaspora media. But after more than seven years of discussions with successive Greek governments, the GCM board says the “Byzantine-like bureaucracy in Greece” is stalling progress.
The GCM has urged the GNTO to provide a timely response that will finally allow the partnership to proceed.
