General Events & Happenings

Chios island has established its agritourism festivities as an annual institution. The agritourism festival that took place last month in the municipal gardens, under the auspices of the municipality of Chios and the tourism sector of southeast Chios, aimed for the promotion of local produce, traditions and culture.

People around the world recently voted the new Seven Wonders of the World being the Great Wall of China, India’s Taj Mahal, the centuries-old ruins of Petra in Jordan, Petra’s Machu Picchu, Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer, Mexico’s Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza and the Colosseum of Rome, but the Acropolis did not make it in the final seven.

A recent meeting of the Hellenic Association of Tourism and Travel Agencies raised awareness over issues that concern illegal activity in the tourism sector and the problems that arise from the monopoly with tour guides.

Tourism Development Minister Fanni Palli-Petralia expressed her optimism for the summer at a recent press conference where she explained how this May has been the most successful one in recent years. This substantiates her claims that Greece has now become a “preferred destination” for international travelers.

The recent visit of Edward Ross, director of corporate and marketing communication of Amadeus, to Athens provided some valuable insight in to the prospects and ambitions of the global central reservations system in 2007.

Monogram Events, a subsidiary of Monogram and one of the biggest of the Greek tourism enterprises, has signed an agreement with Arsenal to become the official sponsor of Arsenal Soccer Schools in Greece. The first functional body of the soccer school will be in the district of Palini.

With numerous successes under its belt in organizing various boat races, the island of Corfu on June 16 once again takes on the task of organizing and presenting the Panhellenic Inflatable Boat Races.

A number of new cultural events programmed for Athens and Thessaloniki on an annual basis makes up driving force of a campaign to make Greece a preferred destination for cultural tourists, the government announced last month.

With distinct hopes of breaking last year’s record number of tourism arrivals (up 10 percent over the year before), Greece launched its 40-million-euro advertising campaign (run by the consortium Ashley & Holmes Athens/Karamella) at a gala dinner last month. The campaign, with the motto “Greece: Explore Your Senses,” is targeted at 1 billion people worldwide, according to Tourism Development Minister Fanni Palli-Petralia.

On the occasion of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels’ annual New Year’s reception, the president of the chamber, Makis Fokas, said that last year proved to be exceptional tourism year for the second time in a row, in both the number of arrivals to Greece and the amount of tourism revenue posted. “2006 proved to be a good year for the total tourism sector, but also for hotel enterprises.”