Hotels & Accommodations

“In recent months, one of the reasons we got into this situation was the misinformation and the fact that markets made reckless movements without taking data and results under consideration,” Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Yeroulanos told US business TV channel CNBC last month.

Alexandra Beach Hotel & Bungalows on Zakynthos was among hotels that hosted Special Olympic athletes for four days during the Special Olympics World Summer Games Athens 2011 held this past summer.

The 35 percent of communal areas of hotels and lodges will be exempt from the new property tax, Economy Minister Evangelos Venizelos said recently.

Bookings in four- and five-star hotels of the Greek capital in August recorded a slight increase of 1.13 percent over the same month last year, according to data released recently by the Athens-Attica Hotel Association.

The Creta Maris Group of Hotels recently presented an ambitious promotion plan for Crete that includes all-inclusive services combined with the Cretan way of life, the local agricultural production and the island’s culture.

Organized campsites in Greece will now be ranked according to a star-rating system, from one star to five stars, based on mandatory technical and functional specifications and ratings criteria, according to a Council of State decision that approved a relevant draft presidential decree.

“The winter season is expected to be extremely difficult, not only for Athens but for all Greek destinations that operate year round,” Yiannis Retsos, president of the Athens-Attica Hotel Association, said last month in regards to the Greek capital’s summer bookings.

The Hellenic Chamber of Hotels recently made a list of proposals aimed for the regeneration of the historic center of Athens after Government Vice President Theodoros Pagalos submitted the relevant topic on Greek Open Government Initiative opengov for public consultation.

Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos last month approved a three-month extension of a campaign launched by the Athens-Attica Hotel Association and online travel company Expedia.com.
The Greek National Tourism Organization will finance the extension of the campaign.

Greek resort hotels showed an excellent performance during the second quarter this year with an increase of 12.4 percent in revenue per available room compared to the corresponding quarter of 2010 and resulted to a year-to-date of 11.2 percent, recent figures released by GBR Consulting said.