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Greece shined from beginning to end at the 42nd ITB Berlin travel trade show (5-9 March) last month. During the inauguration of the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) stand, Tourism Development Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos announced Greece has gone up two positions (from 24th to 22nd)—amongst 130 countries—according to the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008 revealed by the World Economic Forum.

More than 7,000 visitors, hundreds of investors in the tourism sector and some 250 foreign visitors attended the 2nd International Tourism & Property Show held from 22 to 24 February at the Olympic Fencing Center at Hellinikon.

The annual conference of travel organization “Virtuoso” was held at the Hotel Grand Bretagne in Athens from February 28 to March 3rd. Members of the elite travel industry, established tour operators, travel agents and providers met in Athens last month to discuss the latest trends, challenges, possibilities and future of luxury travel. The conference was invitation-only with a total capacity of 350 delegates.

The Hellenic Association of Professional Congress Organizers (HAPCO) recently held its fourth annual two-day conference on “The Environment, Synergy and Crisis Management in Conference Tourism” at the Megaron Athens International Conference Centre, where much emphasis was placed on the launch of the new Athens Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB) next month.

The first ACTIVETRIP exhibition on new and special forms of tourism was held successfully in Patras from 29 February to 2 March. Some 1,200 visitors, 50 exhibitors and a plethora of regional and tourism representatives from all over Greece took part in the exhibition. The general consensus, according to the organizers, anticipates the exhibition becoming an institution for alternative tourism and the City of Patra.

The European Cruise Council (ECC) and MedCruise recently announced the cruise industry now accounts for more than a quarter of a million jobs in Europe, over 10 billion euros direct expenditure and 15 million visits to European ports, Greece’s ports being the third most popular cruise destination.

Blue Star Ferries’ corporate social responsibility program for 2007-2008 focused once again on the youth of the islands served by company vessels and inspired by the Aegean Sea. In early 2007, Blue Star Ferries announced a School Competition divided in two sections—one of creative writing and the other of visual arts— entitled “Aegean – O Mikros Naftilos” and based on the work of world-renowned poet Odysseus Elytis. The competition targeted students from high schools in the Cyclades and the Dodekanissos islands and was aimed at giving young people the chance to express themselves and show their creativity in a theme that was familiar to them.

Tourism Development Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos recently signed a memorandum of cooperation with Mayor of Ancient Olympia Giorgos Aidonis and National Metsovian Polytechnic University Rector Konstantinos Moutzouris to launch a pan-Hellenic student competition for the design of a new entrance to the town of Ancient Olympia.

Athens officially announced it would host the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games planned for June 25th to July 4th. Present at the event held at Athens Concert Hall were President of the Hellenic Republic Karolos Papoulias, members of the Greek parliament, 38 ambassadors to Greece as well as athletes and supporters of the Special Olympics movement. The World Games are expected to unite some 7,500 athletes from more than 170 countries.

The Hellenic Association of Professional Congress Organizers recently did a presentation entitled “Meetings, Conferences and Incentives in Greece” at the Nordic travel fair MATKA 2008 held in Helsinki Fair Center (Finland) on 17 to 20 January. HAPCO was officially invited by the Greek National Tourism Organization office for Scandinavian countries in Stockholm, Sweden.