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Environmental concern was one of the key issues in the speech delivered by the Prime Minister Constantinos Karamanlis at the 15th general assembly of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises.

A general consensus for the prime minister’s continued support in overcoming hurdles that continue to harm business potential in the tourism sector was the essence of the speech given by Stavros Andreadis, president of the association of Greek tourism enterprises, during the associations’ recent 15th annual general assembly.

Greece’s first Tourism and Property Show opened its doors last month for four days. The show aimed to promote Greek tourism properties by bringing together public and private businesses and investors and real estate professionals in the wider SE European area. Tourism Minister Fanni-Palli Petralia opened the show, organized by Real Travel, the first media group to become active in tourist development and real estate sectors in Greece.

The fully renovated marina at Flisvos opens in mid-June after five years of work and delays.The investment for the development and operation of the marina infrastructure has reached 45 million euros. The project was completed by the consortium Lamda Development, the state Tourism Development Company (ETA) and Technical Olympic. The installations are to be operated on a 40-year concession basis.

In order to promote its Mediterranean cruise program with its the new cruise vessel, Emerald Princess, the company’s owner, California-based Princess Cruises, selected the port of Piraeus for the ship’s christening.

The vision of traveling by hydroplane has again become a reality as Airsea Lines recently begun its routes to nine Cycladic islands daily from the port of Lavrio. In its first phase, the hydro-port of Lavrio services passengers to and from Kalymnos with daily flights and as peak season approaches the routes will extend to Ios, Tinos, Patmos, Amorgos, Paros, Myconos, Santorini and Andros.

Louis Hellenic Cruises officially announced the hoisting of the Greek flag on the Calypso, the fifth cruise ship of their fleet to have such a distinction. The 135-meter-long Calypso, fully renovated in 1994, has 243 cabins, which enables it to serve and host 740 passengers.

The general secretary of the National Statistics Service of Greece recently announced a decrease in port traffic for the third quarter of 2006 in comparison with the same period in 2005. These results refer to the movement of passengers, commerce and mobile units in Greek ports serviced by domestic and international ships during this period.

Official data from local and international tourism organizations shows that Greece is not a low-cost tourism destination despite an overall opinion that Greece does not attract high-income tourists.

The recent visit of Edward Ross, director of corporate and marketing communication of Amadeus, to Athens provided some valuable insight in to the prospects and ambitions of the global central reservations system in 2007.