Tour Operators & Travel Agencies

Britain’s third largest package holiday operator XL Leisure Group went bankrupt last month due to high prices for jet fuel and adverse economic conditions.

TUI Hellas announced it would tackle the global environmental threat through the implementation of a carbon-offset program to balance the emissions created by the tour operator’s privately owned tour buses.

Sunways Travel advised all travelers to “travel responsibly” at the presentation of its new environmental strategy in an event organized under the auspices of the City of Athens and the support of Technopolis and the Athens Tourism & Economic Development Company.

New tour operator “Plan and Go” opened its doors on May 2 with the aim of providing “reliable and competitive travel services and products to the package tour market,” according to Nikos Bolias, general manager of Plan and Go.

Amphitrion group of companies recently moved to new premises as part of its investment and development strategy. Amphitrion is now housed in new, modern, 2,000-square-meter offices at Megalou Alexandrou 7 & Karaiskou in Argyroupoli. The group of companies’ telephone and facsimile are the same and some of the existing offices on 7 Syngrou Avenue will remain open for better customer service in addition to the offices at Athens International Airport, Mykonos and Santorini.

New tour operator “Plan & Go” opens its doors on May 1st to provide the Greek market with a new and dynamic approach to travel. Plan & Go is staffed with some twenty well-experienced executives from the Greek tourism market and backed by the longstanding knowledge and vision of two established companies in the sector, Monogram Travel and MTS Tourism Solutions. Plan & Go representatives assert the new tour operators’ strategy has three axis. These are the support of all-year-round tourism to every destination worldwide, quality in service and trust for the domestic operator by the Greek traveler and the supply of professional sales and support services.

Crete welcomed a new addition to the tourism sector with the induction of the Association of West Crete Travel Agencies (ATAWC) in the official registry of associations with the number 20/27.06.07.

Oceanis Travel recently announced they are now the general sales agents for SNCF (the national railway of France), Rail Europe and the Eurostar trains that run between London and Paris in two hours and fifteen minutes. This adds to the existing Europe-wide network that Oceanis Travel caters for, and includes British Rail, National Express Buses, the London Underground and Scandinavian-based Stena Line. Oceanis Travel issues the tickets for any of the aforementioned instantly via an electronic system (paper tickets) in its offices in Athens, hence there are no longer courier charges and saves travelers both time and money.

Ovadias Tours, in October, communicated its ideology behind a campaign for the promotion of Greece in Asia. The tour operator sent a letter to Tourism Development Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos suggesting a new dimension in Greece’s promotional campaign, which, according to the tour operator, was well received.

Kyvernitis Travel & Shipping, one of the most well known and respected travel agencies in the Greek market, has marked its forty plus year experience in travel and tourism by moving into new premises on Syngrou Avenue.