On the margins of last weekend’s Festival of Alternative Tourism, a meeting was held at the Chania City Hall on Saturday 17th May, to discuss the possibilities for developing religious and pilgrimage tourism in Chania. Those present included the mayor of Chania Panagiotis Simandirakis, the deputy mayor for Tourism Nektarios Psaroudakis, the Metropolitan of Belgium Athenagoras (also Exarch of the Netherlands and Luxembourg and head of the Office of the Orthodox Church to the European Union) and representatives of Patriarchates and Orthodox Churches in other countries. Local institutions were also represented, by figures such as the president of the Hoteliers’ Union of the Nomos of Chania Manolis Stamatakis, president of the Chania Trade Association Dora Kyriakaki, and director of the Orthodox Academy of Crete Dr Konstantinos Zorbas.