Trade Associations

A disruption in ferry connections to the Greek islands is highly possible since most Greek coastal shipping companies are on the verge of collapsing due to the difficult financial situation, warned Apostolos Ventouris, former president of the Greek Shipowners Association for Passenger Ships (SEEN).

The Athens Convention Bureau (ACB) on Friday, 7 September, held a meeting with a 12-member delegation from the Korean Ministry of Public Administration and Security, within the framework of Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis’ strategy to establish Athens as an ideal conference and event destination.

The subsidized social tourism holiday programs that were cancelled this year are scheduled to re-launch in 2013, according to Labor Minister Ioannis Vroutsis. The social tourism programs provided subsidized vacations to low-income Greeks.

The Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) on Wednesday 5 September announced the launch of a fundraising campaign to promote gastronomy tourism to enrich the country’s portfolio in tourism services and products.

The first promotional video that showcases the conference tourism product of Athens was launched recently by the Athens Convention Bureau (ACB) and the Athens Development and Destination Management Agency.

“As always, HATTA will assist in the effort to improve the (country’s) tourism product and for the qualitative improvement of tourism services, especially in the sensitive field of culture,” the president of the Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies (HATTA), Yiorgos Telonis said last month.

A bill that will regulate the legal details in regards to the pending liberalization of land passenger transport will be tabled in parliament in April 2013 by the Transport Ministry, the General Pan-Hellenic Federation of Tourism Enterprises (GEPOET) said. By 2015 the market should be open to operate without restrictions.

Jointly funded campaigns in the UK media between British tour operators and the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) to promote Greek tourism and attract last-minute bookings are underway, Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni told the UK media in late July during her first official visit to the country.

Several hotels in Athens and Thessaloniki are near a financial crunch as the unpaid bills for the hosting of Libyan rebel fighters are now near some 30 million euros, the Greek press said last month.

The Hellenic Chamber of Hotels last month re-submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security to reform and take on the subsidized social tourism holiday programs of the abolished Workers’ Welfare Organization (OEE).