Tour Operators & Travel Agencies

Sports tourism agreements appear plentiful of late with major companies like TUI Hellas taking more interest in the sector, and with the government ready to create a World Athletics Museum.

Due to increases in staff and business, Esser Travel recently moved from Glyfada to bigger, better and brighter quarters in the Ano Glyfada area. Joergen Esser, owner and managing director of Esser Travel, says that this is just another step in the constant expansion of the business.

Apparently there’s an explosion in luxury travel. Within Europe and North America it’s considered a fast-growing market and a really profitable one.

A group of travel agency organizations have formed the World Travel Agents’ Associations Alliance. Announced recently in Geneva, Switzerland, the WTAAA aims to facilitate exchanges of information and advice about matters of mutual interest to its members around the globe.

Members of the Hellenic Association of Travel & Tourism Agents were told during their general assembly last month that the policy leaders within the tourism development ministry would soon change the legislative framework on travel office operations, and would examine the possibility of including agencies within the govern-ment’s new development law. Guest speaker at the general assembly, Deputy Tourism Development Minister Anastassios Liaskos, also stressed that the ministry strongly supports travel agencies that specialize in theme tourism, and that his ministry is looking at ways in which to include agencies within the government’s social tourism program.

Two of the country’s major tourism offices, Aktina and Horizon, joined forces last month and will begin their cooperation as of July 1 under the name Aktina-Horizon S.A. This follows the merger announcement earlier this year of Aktina Travel with Marine Tours, where the two companies merged their consolidation departments and formed a new company called Aktina-Marine AE.

Greece has to pursue deep institutional and qualitative changes in its tourism industry so as to become one of the world’s most popular destinations, Tourism Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos said during a recent meeting with members of Europe’ biggest and most influential tour operators federation.

It appears that Germans have turned away from Greece as a holiday destination and have headed to cheaper destinations outside the euro zone. Greek tourism professionals say the move has been going on since 2002 and to a great extent is due to the condition of the German economy and that country’s increased unemployment rate; All of which tends to reduce the available income for holiday travel.

Two of Greece’s major travel enterprises took the plunge last month and started off the new year with a merger announcement. Panagiotis Zerzivilis of Aktina Travel and Giorgios Economou of Marine Tours said they merged their consolidation departments and formed a new company called Aktina-Marine AE.

Cendant Corporation recenlty announced that it has agreed to acquire privately held, UK-based Gullivers Travel Associates, the trading name of Donvand Ltd., and Octopus Travel Group Ltd. (together: “Gullivers”) for approximately $1.1 billion in cash.