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Chios island has established its agritourism festivities as an annual institution. The agritourism festival that took place last month in the municipal gardens, under the auspices of the municipality of Chios and the tourism sector of southeast Chios, aimed for the promotion of local produce, traditions and culture.

The General Secretariat for Youth under the auspices of the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs and the non-government organization PRAKSIS launched an innovative campaign to inform young people about a better quality of life.

At its annual press call to discuss tourism developments the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises said tourism arrivals to Greece have increased more than 19.5 percent in the period 2005-2006 when compared with 2004. It also forecast another major increase this year since the first four months of this year have shown an 11.7 percent increase in arrivals. The president of the assciation Stavros Andreadis stressed the fact that quality in service and products is a major factor in enticing visitors to Greece.

Many members of the tourism industry see the importance in the promotion of Greece as an ideal conference destination, but claim that efforts to achieve this are un-coordinated and delayed. They believe Greece has many advantages over neighboring countries that compete in this sector. However, it is evident from their perspective that efforts to achieve this are few and far between and therefore will delay what is a significant step in turning Greece in to the much desired all-year-round destination. One example of this is the conversion of the Faliron Pavilion into a world class conference center, that in combination with the post Olympic campaign would lay the foundations for Greece to acquire a business tourism identity.

Some eighty representatives of the local tourism and travel industry attended the recent seminar organized by AirSea Lines under the auspice of the Hellenic Association of Tourism and Travel Agencies. During this event they were informed of the developments, services and network of the hydroplane carrier as well as its potential in the development of tourism in Greece.

People around the world recently voted the new Seven Wonders of the World being the Great Wall of China, India’s Taj Mahal, the centuries-old ruins of Petra in Jordan, Petra’s Machu Picchu, Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer, Mexico’s Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza and the Colosseum of Rome, but the Acropolis did not make it in the final seven.

The annual publication of the International Congress and Convention Association recently found Thessaloniki amongst the top one hundred conference destination cities for the third year in a row.

Greece earned one of the last places amongst the 12 most important European destinations in a recent poll conducted by the German tourism magazine Touristik Report, of which the judges were 34 of the most powerful people in the European tourism trade. Amongst the judges were major tour operators, tourism agents and significant representatives of the tourism trade.

The Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourism Agencies recently raised concerns over the continued strikes of employees at archeological sites in Athens. It fears the strikes create a negative image of Greece and will have severe repercussions if the strikes continue during the summer peak season.

Trinity International School of Tourism Management in Crete and the International School of Tourism in Tbilisi State University of Georgia have signed an agreement of cooperation.