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Greece’s potential as a unique destination for rock climbers was explored last month by climbers from 11 countries during the Kalymnos 2000 International Rock Climbing Meeting organized by the Kalymnos municipality, the Hellenic Alpine Club and brother European organizations.

Recent increases in the price of petrol pushed the world’s airlines into 10-15% increases in winter fares, but Olympic Airways seems to have gotten carried away and increased at least one of its winter fares – first-class one-way Athens-New York – by 54%.

Greece and Great Britain are linked by a binding friendship and by cooperation. The relationship between the two countries, particularly regarding the tourism sector, is even stronger when we consider that about 2.5 million British tourists visit our country each year.

The 34th UFTAA World Congress will be held in Colombo – Sri Lanka from October 29 to November 02, 2000. The theme for this year’s congress is “Travel Specialists of the New Millenium” with topics on environment, travel agents, hotels and other travel related subjects being presented by eminent speakers and thereafter open for discussion.

Greek coastal shipping companies look to copy some of the international airline moves to cut costs. Five Greek coastal shipping companies have decided to pool their forces to achieve economies of scale to prepare for the deregulation of the domestic passenger shipping market in 2004.

Superfast Ferries announced last month that it had won a Scottish state tender to ply routes to northern ports on continental Europe from 2002. Forty two companies took part in the international tender to run a service between Rosyth in Fife, Scotland and the Continent.

The continued rise of oil prices leaves Greek passenger shipping firms, especially the domestic operators, facing very serious losses. The situation is compounded by the rise of the dollar, which increases their liabilities to banks and insurance firms as a great part of these liabilities is dollar-denominated.

Greece’s cultural ministry recently announced four-year cultural activity plan in view of 2004 Athens Olympics. The project is called the Cultural Olympiad and will include large-scale events. The cultural ministry has formulated a budget of some 35 billion drachmas for the project. Some of the events will bring in cash through ticket sales, others will be funded through sponsorship deals.

State-run marinas in Attica and Thessaloniki will be reorganized and upgraded to the high standards seen elsewhere in Europe, Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis announced recently.

The Association of British Travel Agencies (ABTA) holds its annual convention this month on the island of Kos. This is the second time the association selected Greece to host the event. In 1976, Athens hosted the event.