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Royal Caribbean Cruises recently signed an agreement with German shipyard Meyer Werft and ordered a brand new class of ships, dubbed “Project Sunshine,” according to the cruiseline’s representative in Greece Navigator Travel and Tourism Services.

“The ‘Greek Breakfast’ project is an effort of great importance to improve the competitiveness of Greek hotels and for the promotion of Greek cuisine as a means for the development of Greek tourism,” the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels said last month.

The Transport and Infrastructure Ministry recently announced a second postponement in regards to the awarding of the tender for the construction and management of the new airport on Crete in the Kasteli area. The new deadline is set for 7 June.

“The Jewish element played an important role in the city’s trade and culture and we must not forget that the leader of the socialists in Thessaloniki was Jewish,” Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris told the Israeli press recently. Mr. Boutaris is also the president of the city’s tourism promotion organization.

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs may hope to attract non-European Union flag cruise ships this summer, but cruise professionals have warned that the market may be lost even for 2012 due to unclear points in the new law for the lifting of cabotage restrictions, Greek press reports said last month.

Business deals worth over six billion euros were made at this year’s ITB among 11,163 exhibiting companies and organizations from 188 countries (2010: 11,127 companies from 187 countries) that presented tourism products and the latest travel trends. The travel trade show counted some 170,000 visitors, of which 40 percent were international buyers and 7,000 were accredited journalists from 94 countries.

After four consecutive annual events in Thessaloniki, Helexpo will hold this year’s Summer Holidays Expo international fair for the first time in the Greek capital 20-22 May at the Helexpo Palace exhibition center in Marousi, Athens.

Cyprus-based Louis Cruises, the only cruise company with Greek flag ships, announced last month that it had decided to abandon the Greek flag and switch to the Malta flag.

Athens Mayor George Kaminis held a meeting last month with Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos at City Hall and discussed opportunities for the development of tourism in the Greek capital, according to a press release issued by the ministry.

The importance of the food experience for the traveler was focused on at the seventh International Meetings and Incentives Conference (IMIC), which took place last month at the Megaron Athens International Conference Center.