More News

“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.

“In Athens we have a problem, it is the black hole of our tourism and this is where we must focus our full attention in the coming year,” Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos said during an interview last month.

The Cyclades Development Company has launched a promotion campaign of the Cyclades islands in Norway and other Scandinavian countries, to increase arrivals in 2012, in collaboration with the Hellenic Travel and Trade Center that operates in Oslo, Norway.

“It seems that there are few places in the world where time stands still—but this is one of those rare refuges,” the US monthly travel magazine Smithsonian said in its recent edition in regards to the Greek island of Santorini.

The Culture and Tourism Ministry last month launched a series of events in an attempt to revitalize the Greek capital city’s center and attract Athenians to areas that are usually difficult to visit, Greek press reports said.

The General Secretariat of Tourism recently launched a tender to select an operator for the port in Mytilini who would be granted the use, utilization, management, administration and operation of the port for a period of 40 years.

The National Confederation of Hellenic Commerce has launched a campaign aimed to stimulate local Greek markets by attracting tourists and Greek consumers to shop, the Greek press said last month.
The new campaign is titled “AGORA” and promotional material to inspire consumers to shop include a special sticker with the slogan “Discover agora, shopping in Greece” and posters.

The Piraeus Traders Association last month called for the Greek Government to deal with the constant increase in petty theft crimes aimed at tourists.
In a letter to the Culture and Tourism and Citizen Protection Ministers, Pavlos Geroulanos and Christos Papoutsis respectively, the association said petty theft and muggings are thriving on the Athens Piraeus Electric Railways (ISAP).

The Athens Tourism and Economic Development Company (ATEDCo) in late July launched “This is MY Athens,” a new free tourist service that welcomes visitors to the Greek capital and promotes cultural exchange between locals and travelers.

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.