30% to 35% increase this year, traffic recorded in the 19th Thessaloniki International Book Fair (DEBTH), in relation to the 2019 event, the pre-pandemic period, according to the first assessment made today by the organizers. They also noted that they were pleasantly surprised by the large turnout of young spectators.

The 19th DEBTH exhibition ending today, in addition to the global interest in the book, offered a rich program of side events, and the 1st International Professional Program held within the framework of the exhibition was, as already mentioned, especially successful.

“We want to make the exhibition not only a big shop with a rich parallel cultural program, but also give it other dimensions, for example, with the International Professional Program,” emphasized the President of the Hellenic Cultural Foundation (EIP). ) Nikos Kukis.

He himself urged publishers to take advantage of the opportunity presented to them. “The professional program is a conference that was on various topics. I think publishers have a lot to learn from those who are ahead of them. I’d like to see how many publishers have attended this program,” he said characteristically, and stated that he was open to any suggestions that could further enhance the momentum of DBTH.

Mr. Kukis described DEBT “spiritual beacon of Greece” and highlight it “the huge intellectual potential that exists in our country”which was reflected, according to him, in this year’s event.

He also thanked the leaders of the Foundation and the supporters of the exhibition, because, as he noted, “cooperation and team cohesion are important for the success of the event.” “Even though we are few, we did very well and we had very good cooperation with management,” he added.

At a meeting with journalists, the president of the Hellenic Cultural Foundation also touched on one of the most ambitious, as he emphasized, current reforms, the issue of digital transformation of BIBLIONET. It is a bibliographic database that records the production of Greek publishers, which is freely available through the EIP and is completely reconstructed with funding of 500,000 euros from the Digital Governance Fund.

Finally, he said that with this system, reading clubs will be given the opportunity to work through an electronic system in which they can publish information about their activities and be interconnected.