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Athenians that responded to Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyannis’ call for volunteers now man a number of City of Athens info booths daily from 10.00 to 20.00 and will continue to do so through to September.

Every city to have hosted the modern Olympic Games inherited improvements in infrastruc-ture, Olympic installations, facelifts, tourism promotion and a better environment through greater green spaces, says a survey by the international consultancy company Jones LangLalle.

At a joint press conference held at Zappeion Hall last month, the minister of tourism, the minister for the Aegean, and deputy ministers for the economy and for culture presented an ambitious series of conferences to be held through-out the summer.

In a major environmental move aimed at protecting the country’s ecosystem, the government last month signed an agreement that will transform 76,000 hectares of forest and wetlands in northern Greece into two national parks.

The “.travel” Registry, owned by Tralliance Corporation, New York, in cooperation with the World Tourism Organization, has affirmed a priority right to the nations of the world to register their respective country, cities, and place names in the .travel Registry.

The forest that runs along the Nestos River in Greece’s northeastern corner, one of the largest of its kind in Europe, is regaining its former stature. As it regenerates it will once again become a source of life for communities near one of the country’s largest flowing bodies of water.

The Board of Directors of Blue Star Maritime S.A. announced last month that it had successfully refinanced its group’s debt load with a new bond issue.

Greece’s tourism industry received another welcome boost last month when the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature announced that 383 of the country’s beaches – five more than last year – received the coveted European Union’s “Blue Flag” for clean, well-organized beaches. To receive this ecological seal of approval, each beach had to fulfill tough 27 criteria, including those for water quality, environmental management and safety.

A special summer cultural program was announced last month by Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyannis and Athens Municipality Cultural Department chief, Nitsa Loule. The program will spread across several parts of the capital, will run until September 18, and will feature a plethora of diverse events, happenings and parties.

For locals or visitors to really get in touch with a country, its culture and landscapes, then there is no better way than by bicycle. Cycling vacations come in many shapes and sizes. They range from relaxing city and country tours to biting mountain tours. Greece now has them all with the opening of PameVolta offices, which is a breath away from the streets that surround the archeological sites of downtown Athens and a few yards from the subway station “Acropolis.”