Trade Associations

The General Pan-Hellenic Federation of Tourism Enterprises (GEPOET) last month called for tourism to gain full independence and be separated from the culture sector.

The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) offices abroad in their current form have increased costs and produced a poor outcome, Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister George Nikitiadis said last month in Parliament.

The Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) said last month that chances of a revival of the Greek economy are decreasing since the Finance Ministry did not approve of a 50 million euro loan for the Greek National Tourism Organization.

Three more visa centers will open in Russia in the coming months to expand the widening of facilities for issuing visas to Greece that was launched last year, Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos announced at a press conference last month during the sixth international travel fair Intourmarket in Moscow.

“The ‘Greek Breakfast’ project is an effort of great importance to improve the competitiveness of Greek hotels and for the promotion of Greek cuisine as a means for the development of Greek tourism,” the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels said last month.

As of this month and until the end of the year all aircraft using Greek airports are exempt from paying landing, takeoff and stopover fees, according to an announcement last month by the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry.

“The Jewish element played an important role in the city’s trade and culture and we must not forget that the leader of the socialists in Thessaloniki was Jewish,” Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris told the Israeli press recently. Mr. Boutaris is also the president of the city’s tourism promotion organization.

The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) last month signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Thessaloniki (TCCI) to attract domestic tourism and foreign arrivals to Greece.

The Hellenic Chamber of Hotels established its first branch in Heraklio, Crete, last month and announced in a meeting that the establishment of other regional offices in key Greek tourism destinations would soon follow.

The political turmoil in Egypt and Tunisia may give Greece a 10 percent increase in tourist arrivals this year, the president of the Hellenic Federation of Hotelier’s, Andreas Andreadis, told Bloomberg last month.