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Construction on a major league tourism and recreation park in the Athens area gets underway next month. The 18-billion-drachma “Star City” venture covers some 278,000 square meters of beachfront property in the Athens suburb of Glyfada.

Thessaloniki beats out Greece’s capital and takes the initiative to establish the country’s first convention and visitors bureau. Its role will be to promote conference tourism to northern Greece.

German commuters were wined and dined Greek-style on their country’s railways last month. Organizers hope the taste of Greece will tempt some of the commuters to spend their annual vacation in Greece.

The Rodos Afandou golf course is set to undergo a major redevelopment that is to be funded by the Hellenic Tourism Organisation (EOT). The decision to revamp the course, considered an important element of the island’s effort to develop alternative forms of tourism, was announced after a recent meeting between EOT’s secretary general, Evgenios Yiannakopoulos, and Rodos prefectural authorities.

Under the title “Attica Athens Hellas, the Multiple Choice Destination,” and complete logo, the local authorities of the Attica Region Secretariat launched its first common tourism promotion campaign.

Dane Sea Lines, which has managed to pull itself out of deep financial troubles with the help of strategic investor Anek Lines, has been granted provisional permits to service the Piraeus-Dodecanese group of routes.

Four business groups forwarded final proposals to Greece’s national economy ministry after a call by the ministry for bids. The ministry wants to select a consultant group that could develop state marinas, recreation centers and a yacht shelter network.

A consortium that includes four construction companies and the Kyriacoulis group (marines and yachting) has been named the successful bidder in the tender for the management and operation of Lefkadas Marina for the next 43 years.

The second European Congress of Marinas will be held from May 11-13, 2000, and hosted by the municipality of Lavrion, which has one of the largest marinas in Greece. The biennial conference is under the auspices of the Ministry of Development and the Hellenic National Tourism Organization.

Strintzis Lines launched the first of a new group of luxury passenger ferries recently at the Dutch shipyard van der Giessen-de Noord. After the ship received the blessings of a Greek Orthodox priest, Dutch Transport, Public Works and Water Management Minister Tiny Netelenbos launched the vessel with the traditional champagne bottle. She christened the high-speed vessel “Blue Star 1”.