I have been imagining everyone in this issue around one table.

The conversation would move from art to artificial intelligence, from the future of our cities to the character of a wine. Someone would offer an idea; someone else would question it. An unexpected connection would change the discussion. I would want to stay until the last person had spoken.

That is how I have come to think of this edition: a symposium in print.

Aemilia Papaphilippou’s Chess Continuum gives that gathering a form. Its unbroken line connects every square of a chessboard. I see our pages in much the same way. Each interview, each place, each contribution has its own space, while its relationships with the others give meaning to the whole. My heartfelt thanks to Aemilia for entrusting her work to our cover, and to art historian and critic Hera Papapostolou for the conversation through which we encounter her thinking.

Across SIGNALS, STREETS and SOIL, we follow those relationships: between digital systems and lived experience, between a city’s ambitions and its cultural memory, between the soil of a vineyard and the welcome awaiting its visitors.

For the exclusive interviews they granted me for this edition, I am grateful to Dimitris Papastergiou, Minister of Digital Governance and Artificial Intelligence; to Andreas Fiorentinos, Secretary General of the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO), for his vision of Greece throughout the year; to Konstantinos Lazarakis MW, President of WSPC, for his candour about wine tourism; and to sommelier and wine educator Konstantinos Tsatsaris for bringing the vineyard’s story to the table.

Through The Eaternity Experience Events, Hellenic Heritage brings gastronomy into dialogue with Greece’s archaeological sites, connecting the pleasure of the table with the memory of place. From our five city portraits to The Ellinikon and the Diamonds of Greek Philoxenia, each contribution adds another dimension to the Greece we bring to WTM London 2026.

My thanks also go to Olga Kefalogianni, Minister of Tourism, and Deputy Ministers Marios Themistocleous for Health, Stefanos Gkikas for Maritime Affairs and Insular Policy, and Ioannis Andrianos for Rural Development and Food.

To Angela Varela, Chairperson of the GNTO, and Alexandros Thanos, Executive Director of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), thank you for bringing national promotion and the sector’s wider perspective to our shared table.

Regional Governors Stavros Arnaoutakis of Crete, Giannis Trepeklis of the Ionian Islands and George Hatzimarkos of the South Aegean; Thanos Michelongonas, Deputy Regional Governor for Tourism of the Peloponnese; Haris Doukas, Mayor of Athens connect our conversation with the places and communities they serve.

I warmly thank Alexandros Vassilikos, President of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels and HOTREC; Christina Tetradis, the Chamber’s Vice President; Yannis Hatzis, President of the Hellenic Hoteliers Federation and First Vice President of SETE; and Evgenios Vassilicos, President of the Athens, Attica and Argosaronic Hotel Association.

My gratitude extends to Michalis Vlatakis, President of the Association of Tourism and Travel Agents of Crete; Antonia Alexandrou, President of HAPCO & DES; and Ioanna Papadopoulou, Director of Communications and Marketing at Athens International Airport. Their experience brings the practice of hospitality, connectivity and encounter into this gathering.

Bringing these voices together has been a privilege. It has also made me think about my responsibility as a co-publisher: to listen carefully, to make room for different perspectives, and to recognise the connections worth sharing.

To our editorial and creative team, our collaborators, and every brand and partner who trusted this edition, thank you. I know the work, patience and care these pages have asked of you. I hope you recognise yourselves in them.

THE NEW GREECE is our most ambitious edition yet. I put my name to it with pride in what we have made together, and gratitude for everyone who made it possible.

I dedicate it to the people who give Greece something of themselves: their imagination, their knowledge, their craft, their welcome.

And to you, dear GRtraveller… I have saved you a seat.