Trade Associations

The Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies (HATTA) recently expressed concern to the Greek Coast Guard in regards to plans to implement identity checks (check-in) of persons that board passenger ships.

In recent years the phenomenon of illegal tours organized by travel agencies has increased rapidly and essentially has abolished the tour guide profession, according to the Association of Professional Tour Guides of Crete-Santorini.

The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) and the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels last month established a joint committee aimed to solve problems between the Greek hotel sector and the Greek State.

Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos last month welcomed a proposal for Greece to participate in a Greek-German tourism summit in Berlin, Germany, that would give Greece the opportunity to promote tourism investment possibilities.

“In regards to Easter holiday overnights, early bookings and the latest data from Greek airport arrivals for the first four months of the year, tourism traffic is showing positive signs with an upward trend at least in terms of arrivals,” President of the Hellenic Federation of Hoteliers Yiannis Retsos told GTP.

Prime Minister George Papandreou chaired a Cabinet meeting last month after a week of street violence occurred in an Athens city district and announced a series of measures aimed to revamp the Greek capital’s historic center.

Westfield London, Europe’s largest urban shopping center, on 19-27 March featured a 1.500 square meter Greek Theme Park on its ground floor atrium and depicted all aspects of Greek tourism.

The Schengen treaty constrains Greek tourism and particularly Greece’s “soon to be” biggest markets such as Russia, China, India and Turkey, Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos told the group of Socialist European Parliament deputies in Athens in late March.

The Greek Government has undertaken extensive initiatives to facilitate the arrival of Russian tourists to Greece and visitors from countries such as India and China, Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister George Nikitiadis said at the 18th Moscow International Travel and Tourism (MITT) exhibition that ran 16-19 March.

“Accessibility is a legal obligation and not a desired service,” the National Confederation of Disabled People said in a letter of protest to Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos in March.