General Events & Happenings

Every Sunday, beginning June 5, a trip to one of the country’s newest and unique attractions – the Vagonetto-Fokis Mining Park – can be combined with an excursion to the Byzantine monastery Ossios Loucas.

From November 4 to 6 of this year, Athens will host the Europe Corporate Games. The festival includes 16 athletic events with the participation of thousands of executives from more than 150 companies throughout Europe.

Greece, the birthplace of the Games, was chosen to host the worldwide presentation and launching of BMW’s new series 3 models. The event took place on the “Athens Riviera” (Astir Palace Vouliagmeni) and was targeted exclusively for the sales network of the company.

Two of the “Three Tenors” will perform at separate events this summer at Greece’s annual Hellenic Festival, organizers announced last month.

Seaworld, a new, innovative aquarium, promoted as the largest and most modern in the Mediterranean, opens on Crete early this year. Four thousand sea creatures, currently being kept in fish traps by the Fish Farming Institute, will be transferred to the 32 tanks that are ready at Heraklion.

The Taekwondo sports complex on the Athens seaside at Faliron will be turned into a conference center that will be ready by this March, said Tourism Development Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos during the recent annual general assembly of the Attica Hoteliers Association.

The European Regions Airline Association voted Aegean Airlines the Airline of the Year for 2004-2005. The 230-member association represents 70 European airline companies active in 250 European airports.

Tourism Development Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos continually emphasizes the importance of changing Greece’s tourism image, and at every press opportunity he stresses the importance of Greek history and culture. Millions of guests during the Athens 2004 Games have had a taste of the best Greece has to offer and they will no doubt spread the word.

Tourism Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos called Greece’s tourism leaders to a double launch and a reception last month at Zappeio Hall. The minister presented tourism promotion plans for after the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, and the new tourism exhibition stands within Zappeio (Olympic press center) created especially for officials and journalists here for the Games.

The Evgenidou Foundation Athens Observatory was the venue for one of the most impressive press conferences this year and was organized by Sueprfast Ferries to present the company’s Superfast team of track and field stars. This year’s team includes five of the most promising athletes in Greece.