Luxury is probably one term you least keep company with this country at present, yet several professionals active in the local and international luxury industry recently were able to share a few thoughts on Greece like a luxury destination, Greek luxury clients and the development of local premium products.

The occasion was the 1st Business of Luxury Conference organized by Boussias Communications with the Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens last month 14.

Discussing issues of luxury in the severely recession-hit city whose latest physical injuries were on view just a couple blocks away from the landmark Syntagma Square hotel without doubt left some participants with bittersweet feelings. But crises will also be times of opportunity and the overall sense could be that the show must go on — possibly in an improved version.

Definitions of luxury have a tendency to differ from one individual to the next and participants heard several points of views: luxury is an experience, something which involves all five senses, a notion that will require a certain level of knowledge and appreciation. The necessity for luxury, said one speaker, is a component of human nature.

Luxury can be another 1-trillion-euro business encompassing fashion, automobiles and technology, for example, according to figures presented by Annia Spiliopoulos Eliades, managing partner from the Greek branch of Quintessentially, the world’s largest private members club. Spiliopoulos Eliades highlighted the sector’s shift from “abstract to something more measurable,” explaining that luxury costumers have become more discerning and in search of more value for money. She also noted the need for emerging markets for luxury consumption, like Russia, Brazil, India and China.

“What will be the made-in-Greece platform for luxury?” asked Tim Jackson, professor of luxury brand management and fashion retailing with the London College of Fashion. Luxury, said Jackson is approximately a story and how this evolves, citing the situation of Gucci founder Guccio Gucci, still a prominent feature for the Italian brand’s digital flagship. “Take a thing that has history and make it relevant,” said Jackson, as he talked about the house of Balenciaga, whose founder Cristobal Balenciaga’s design codes are nowadays incorporated inside the brand’s fragrances, for instance.

“Nothing affects profitability a lot more than pricing,” said Austrian pricing expert Dr Andreas Hinterhuber, who gave an insightful and practical talk on how pricing can make or break a product. He noted how the thought of luxury has in the last few years gone from the product on the experience and is now increasingly about the journey. Hinterhuber explained that the middle marketplace for luxury is shrinking, a truth which has profound implications on strategy and pricing worldwide. The right way to arrive at the right price, said Hinterhuber, is through a price-setting and price-getting chart method which involves quantifying the value that consumers perceive in luxury brands.

A panel discussion featuring Nikos Vichos, president and CEO from the Vichos Group, Georges Papalexis, CEO of Zolotas jewelers, and Larry Sakellariou, managing director of Shiseido Hellas, offered insight into the harsh current climate.

Vichos, whose Vichos Group concentrates on high-end watches, referred to the local stock exchange boom which led to a pointy rise in the demand for luxury products in Greece. The relationship is very different these days, noted Vichos, though he also expressed his certainty that the middle class will ultimately survive. Especially, said Vichos, “Luxury should accompany consumers, not the opposite way round.”

Known for revamping the local jewelry industry inside the 1970s, the house of Zolotas has always been guided by its a sense Greekness. Zolotas CEO Papalexis said that the company is adjusting to the current financial situation through special collections and its efforts to develop abroad. Papalexis also noted that although many local companies had the necessary talent, they lacked good branding strategies.

Sakellariou noted that the Greek subsidiary and mother company Shiseido were maintaining a tally of competitors (and whether other programs remained in Greece for business). Sakellariou said that while easy credit had allowed for high consumption in the recent past, the market has become adjusting to the new reality.

British investment banker William Plane of Savigny Partners gave a general view of the industry in the 21st century, speaking of “a period of unprecedented growth and turmoil,” and recounting how a golden period of 2003-07 was replaced through the credit crunch in 2008. “The near future lies in the hands of China,” noted Plane, who added that the country was the second-largest marketplace for luxury in 2010.

“Greece is a good brand nonetheless it doesn’t have good branding,” said Dimitris Tsitouras, founder of the luxury Tsitouras Collection resort on Santorini. An advocate of small tourist units in Greece, Tsitouras spoke about the time when the country was torn relating to the “Made in Hellas” and “Made in Greece” logos, a thing that did not allow for the optimization of tourism strategies.

Originally a lawyer, Tsitouras had established a guest house on Santorini for private use, but was content to see the residence being rented for the sum of 6 million drachmas for a period of three months back in 1988. The Tsitouras Collection was given birth to a year later with its first-ever guest inquiring about the possibility of purchasing the resort’s towels featuring the unit’s signature wreath logo. This prompted Tsitouras to formulate an accompanying collection of products which grew to include scarves, china, glassware and jewellery, among other items. Besides the jewelry pieces, none of the other collections are actually stated in Greece, noted Tsitouras, who works together factories in Como, Italy, for silk scarves, and it has crystal pieces made in Malta.

“A meaningful experience is in all likelihood the new luxury,” claimed Simon Leadsford, publishing director of Conde Nast Traveller UK. From “I want” to “I need” and from “aspiration to inspiration,” Leadsford talked about some of the global industry’s novel trends, including the idea of hotels connecting making use of their local environment and communities, and exactly how rural values may be integrated into an urban context.

On the subject of Greece, Leadsford described some comments made by Conde Nast Traveller UK editors: “Greece was previously cheap and cheerful, now it’s higher priced and more grumpy,” quipped one editor, while Leadsford suggested that Greeks specializing in premium travel should “sell the feeling, not just the product.”

It is estimated that by 2020 some 100 million Chinese tourists will be traveling around the globe on an annual basis. “Greece, do you want?” Leadsford asked.

“Every cruise customer would like to go to Santorini; if you don’t include it you can’t sell,” said John Tercek, Royal Caribbean Cruises second in command for commercial development. He spoke about the necessity of improved infrastructure in local ports of call and predicted that cruise activity will diminish with the port of Piraeus. Meanwhile, he explained that Royal Caribbean Cruises had committed to the Turkish port of Kusadasi making a pier accompanied by an upscale mall, knowning that it was currently working on the development of a state-of-the-art pier in Istanbul. Tercek also made a point about passengers of larger cruisers spending more income at ports of call.

Luxury tourism should cover the spectrum from the travel experience, from accommodation to shopping, cultural activities and usage of transport, said Giorgos Drakopoulos, managing director from the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), whose presentation included images of foreign visitors coming to the blocked-by-taxi-strike Iraklio Airport on Crete last summer. “Some of these people had booked 5-star accommodation; you can be positive that they are not coming back,” said Drakopoulos, who added that Greece will be the only EU country which will not allow rent-a-car-and-driver services.

The development of luxury resorts is for the agenda of Dolphin Capital Partners, a real estate investment and development company operating in Greece, Cyprus, Panama, trinidad and Croatia real estate. Katerina Katopis, the company’s sales and marketing director, offered a glimpse of the Porto Heli Collection, an extra resort and villa project developed in partnership with Amanresorts, which is expected to open its doors inside the Peloponnese in June.

In what he called his “colossal, 50-square-meter premises,” Vassilis Bourtsalas makes custom-made garments for any varying clientele. In pre-crisis times, he explained, “people came to us for all the wrong reasons and as soon as the crisis hit, Bespoke ran out of fashion overnight, as it was considered something expensive, tied up to excessive wealth.” Nevertheless, “Bespoke is emotion,” said Bourtsalas, who described one of his best clients, an everyday guy who came in to position an order for a handmade shirt every two months.

Giorgos Kolliopoulos always thought that olive oil was nothing less than liquid gold. An out-of-the-box thinking entrepreneur, Kolliopoulos spent two years — most of the time working in his flat — developing Lambda, the world’s first ultra-premium virgin extra virgin olive oil in 2006. How much of his inspiration originated in his Greek heritage and local food traditions? “None whatsoever,” said Kolliopoulos, whose items are currently on sale at select outlets like Harrods in London.
It appears that strong vision can be a key to luxury, writes tagza.

It was October 2003 along with a good time to take stock. The last two and a half years had included a nine month overland trip from Oxford to South Africa, 6 months in Somalia and 6 months in Japan, and now I had been back on Hvar, with winter once more approaching.

On the plus side, I had created a lovely home, a lovely girlfriend along with a lovely island. All good.

On the negative side, the heating solution did not work, I had no job, and my limited savings were ebbing away with my daily visits towards the excellent Cafe Splendid.

Employment alternatives for a non-native speaker out of season without any discernible skills were limited. My two big ideas – to become a world famous writer, or to start a language school – looked doomed to failure.

While I knew that Lebanese Nuns Don’t Ski deserved to be an international bestseller, it seemed that the many agents who received my synopsis were unaware of the fact, and after a couple of good leads, the lights choose to go out, and I was destined for the fate of posthumous literary fame.

The teaching idea wasn’t looking very clever either. My idea to do business English courses in Split during the entire winter, as well as an intensive course about the island during the summer wasn’t practical, with the catamaran return ticket price almost equivalent to an hour in the classroom.

I had been out of ideas and, not the first time in my life, a mild panic entered my inner calm, causing me difficulty sleeping. Just WHAT was I going to do with my life?

The answer arrived at my inbox, in the form of a contact from a chap named Graham, who rather cheekily enquired regarding the possibility of staying in my house at no cost (I had made it available to relatives and buddies while in Japan), as he were interested in buying property on the island, and was struggling to find any information. His wife was suffering from ME and he had heard that Hvar had the very best recuperative climate in Europe, and the man needed my help.

Being unsure of the first thing about buying property on Hvar – I believed the policy of looking for old men in straw hats waiting through the catamaran did not work in every case – I fixed him track of some accommodation and a agent. I say a real estate agent, it was actually a legal professional, for the lawyers back then were the agents, and in addition acted legally for buyer and seller, frequently holding a power of attorney both for sides. I should have run away then…

Given the choice of a November morning coping with more rejection slips for my bestseller, or using a free tour of the island’s virginia homes, I opted for the latter, and my eyes were opened. Only when I had the money, there were some real bargains around, and Croatia was just starting to be touted as a new property hotspot.

In the end of the day, Graham had found his perfect home – ideal for his needs – a captivating modern 2-bed bungalow in Vrboska, in a quiet residential area a brief walk from the sea. He was eternally grateful for my help and went home an incredibly happy bunny.

I went home also quite excited. There are bound to be many more Grahams coming over ferry in the coming months, who would also be lost on arrival and hopefully grateful on departure. Easily could turn that gratitude into take advantage the form of a sales commission, perhaps – just perhaps – I can make a living on Hvar, while I waited for that literary powers that be to show me into the next Bill Bryson.

Hvar Property Services was formed within my head over a cold one or three that very evening. It was a decision that caused me many, many difficulty sleeping as I entered the murky world of Croatia real estate as reported tagza.