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Athens continued to satisfy its visitors in 2011 despite the serious problems the destination faced in 2010, according to a study by GBR Consulting on customer satisfaction and the performance of hotels in Attica.

“The hotels in Athens are collapsing,” was the comment of the Athens-Attica Hotel Association in a recent announcement in regards to the city’s hotel performance for the month of November 2011. Αccording to data from the association, the average hotel occupancy in Athens-Attica dropped by 23.63 percent last November.

Homo Evolution’s Nikos Sofianos (marketing director), Giannis Papagiannopoulos (president) and Simon Vasiliadis (project manager) with IGLTA Ambassador to Greece, Orhideea Rosu, at the gay tourism and entrepreneurship conference held recently at the Les Lazaristes hotel in Thessaloniki.

“This investment in new technology will provide customers with better access to information and new and innovative ways to get the support they need when and where they need it,” said Eva Karamanou, general manager of Amadeus Hellas, on account of the recent launch of the e-Support Centre, an online support tool for travel agents in Greece.

Thessaloniki recorded 31.09 percent more foreign overnights at its hotels during the first nine months of 2011 when compared to the corresponding period in 2010, while overnights by Greeks fell by 5.5 percent, according to recent figures released by the Thessaloniki Hotels Association.

Greek tourism will be promoted via 4,500 restaurants in the United States based on an initiative to be carried out by the “Alliance for Greece”* group, Deputy Culture and Tourism …

“Our goal is for all monuments to provide the basic services to the visitor,” Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Yeroulanos said while reviewing the progress of the ministry’s three-year plan to upgrade services of archaeological sites and museums. The program was launched in December 2010.

The Development, Competitiveness and Shipping Ministry plans to table a law in Parliament soon and fully lift cabotage restrictions for non-European Union flag cruise ships, the Greek press said recently.

“Thessaloniki is a city that does not discriminate and is friendly to all who wish to visit,” Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris said at a recent conference on gay tourism and entrepreneurship held in the northern Greek city.

The Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies (HATTA) called a sudden meeting last month to focus on the image of downtown Athens and discuss the negative impact of the city’s tourism. The purpose of the meeting was to examine interventions to improve the image of the city through initiatives that would be undertaken by institutional bodies and tourism professionals.