Industry Reports & Trends

Piraeus-based XRTC Business Consultants says it expects more mergers and cooperation agreements within the Greek coastal shipping arena.

The majority of visitors to Greece’s museums feel safe and are satisfied with the services offered, however, about half complained about the opening hours, saying that they should be extended, according to a poll made public last month.

As government boasts that arrivals this year will surpass last year’s numbers by more than 10%, a report from the country’s Institute for Tourism Research says we’ll be fortunate to see a 7% increase in arrivals.

Over a third of the Greek population will not go away on holiday this year, according to a recent survey released by VPRC, a leading independent public opinion research and consulting company here. The survey questioned 614 people throughout Greece who were over the age of 15.

Blogs are a trendy way to publish online, and if done right, they can be an effective way to maintain solid relationships with Internet customers. While blogs may be used regularly by the techno-savvy, only 38 percent of all internet users know what blogs are, according to a January 2005 Pew Research Center survey. And their use as a marketing tool is still in its infancy.

Worldwide tourism results for 2005 show a continuation of the overall positive trend of 2004, with international tourist arrivals growing on average by eight per cent in the first four months, according to the recently released June edition of the WTO World Tourism Barometer.

Every city to have hosted the modern Olympic Games inherited improvements in infrastruc-ture, Olympic installations, facelifts, tourism promotion and a better environment through greater green spaces, says a survey by the international consultancy company Jones LangLalle.

Ninety-six percent of corporate marketing executives utilize events in their marketing mix and 93% view the importance of event marketing to be constant or increasing, according to EventView ’05/’06, the fourth annual study of face-to-face marketing trends sponsored by The George P. Johnson Company and the Meeting Professionals International Foundation.

Georgios Tsakiris, president of the Attica Hoteliers’ Association, opened the association’s annual general assembly last month with words of praise for the cooperation and work being done by the country’s tourism ministry, but he urged the ministry to move faster in implementing promises.

With new ideas, new management and a strong 2004 participation to work with, the organizers of Philoxenia say the Greek travel fair has entered a new era. Last year, the fair welcomed 10% more general visitors and saw a 140% increase in foreign commercial visitors when compared with the year before.