ARCHELON’s long-standing commitment to protecting Greece’s sea turtles is reaching new shores— this time, through the lens of sustainable tourism practices. Our Sea Turtle Tours recently featured as a highlight in the Sustainable Tourism International Talk Sessions, organized by the Japan Alliance of Responsible Travel Agencies (JARTA).

The presentation, given by Frosso Dimitrakopoulou, co-founder of ECOCLUB and long standing volunteer and collaborator of ARCHELON, was entitled "Learning from Greece and the EU: Sustainable Tourism Practices" and brought together industry practitioners to discuss how tourism can move toward meaningful relationships with nature and local communities. She highlighted ARCHELON as an example of how to turn "on-paper" sustainability into "on-the-ground" action, emphasizing behavioral change through participatory experiences.

The examples presented were The Sea Turtle Rescue Tours at the largest sea turtle rehabilitation center in the Mediterranean (Athens/Glyfada) and The Sea Turtle Beach Walks on the nesting beaches of Rethymno, Chania, and Messara Bay in Crete, and Kyparissia Bay, Lakonikos Bay and Koroni in the Peloponnese. Frosso also highlighted the Turtle Friendly Hotel Certificate a global initiative by TUI Care Foundation, in which ARCHELON actively participates and showed a short video prepared for visitors by ARCHELON, in collaboration with the Municipality of Rethymno.

In a dialogue with Masaru Takayama, Founding Chairperson (JARTA), the seminar explored how the "design of implementation" is the true secret to success. The "Sustainable Tourism International Talk Session" is a series of dialogues aimed at re-examining tourism not merely as a means of attracting visitors or generating economic benefits, but within the context of sustainable relationships with local communities, society, and nature. It aims to share the latest trends in tourism being discussed on the global stage in a timely manner and clarify how they can be utilized in the Japanese market.

Learn more about the Sea Turtle Rescue Tours or the Sea Turtle Beach Walks HERE.

Find out about our collaboration with hotels in Attica and hotels near the nesting beaches HERE