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The tourism development ministry announced the prefectural administration of Grevena is the tourism destination that was chosen to represent Greece in the European Commission’s pilot project “European Destinations of Excellence” (EDEN) with the theme “tourism and local intangible heritage.”

The tourism development ministry recently undertook an educational initiative with the establishment of Russian language courses for tour guides at the University of Rodos.

The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) announced it would sponsor a weekly radio show entitled “Colors of Greece.”

Kapa Research revealed significant Greek travel trends for the occasion of the 13th Touristiko Panorama travel exhibition held in Athens on 17-20 April, organized by the Kalofolias Group-Express Newspaper.

The Louis Group recently purchased two new cruise ships, “Norwegian Majesty” and “Norwegian Dream” for the fleet of Louis Cruise Lines. The group invested 249 million euros in its plans to renew its fleet. It purchased the two cruise ships from Star Cruises at 143 million euros for the “Norwegian Dream” and 106 million euros for the “Norwegian Majesty.”

The tender for the exploitation of the property at Alikes in Anavyssos is currently in its second phase with three contenders in this stage. These are the consortium of Lamda Development, Reds and Lampsa S.A. (the hotel Grande Bretagne), the Steggou Group with Porto Carras Casino and J & P Avax. South African interest company Greek Lifestyle Investments was excluded from the second phase of the tender.

Tourism Development Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos met Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis recently to discuss joint action and cooperation between the tourism development ministry and the City of Athens. Mr. Kaklamanis asserted, “Municipal administration considers the city’s economic development to be a key priority and since this development concerns mainly the city’s tourism identity it is imperative that our actions are coordinated.”

A recent study by Sabre Airline Solutions revealed a new breed of “hybrid” carrier is quickly overtaking traditional low-cost carriers and that more passengers travel on this “hybrid” carrier than on traditional low-cost carriers.

The Hellenic Ministry of Transport and Communications (YME) and the Tourism Development Ministry held a joint press conference recently to reveal the process to aesthetically improve peripheral airports in Greece following a memorandum sent to YME by the Association of Tourist Enterprises (SETE) in December 2007.

Tourism Development Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos recently visited Moscow where he attended the International Travel Fair Intourmarket and Moscow International Travel & Tourism exhibition (MITT). He then visited the exhibition “The Greek Tourist Poster; Time Travel with the Help of Art” that took place in the A. S. Popov Central Museum of Communications in St. Petersburg.