Trade Associations

With a 400,000-euro marketing investment, Greek gastronomy over the next five years could become one of the main reasons to choose Greece as a holiday destination, the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) pointed out last month during the presentation of the study “Gastronomy in the Marketing of Greek Tourism.”

From February to December 2010 some 39 restaurants in the United Kingdom will be “dressed” in blue and white to challenge their customers to savour dishes of Greek cuisine, Greek wines and cocktails.

The Athens Tourism and Economic Development Company (ATEDCo) recently released a new promotional film that takes viewers one step further from the typical tourist clichés and showcases Athens as the ideal destination with plenty of options.

If we want to upgrade Athens, we need to set down some rules and faithfully follow them, Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos recently said in an interview to the Greek press when asked about the problems at the one end of the historic center of Athens—the Omonia Square area.

Following the financial and management control of the Greek National Tourism Organization ordered by President Nikolas Kanellopoulos in January, certified internal auditors were recently assigned to inspect the financial records of the Tourism Development Company (ETA), the company that manages the property of the GNTO.

The Hellenic Federation of Hoteliers recently questioned a government decision that sees a 26 percent reduction of beneficiaries for the Workers’ Welfare Foundation’s social tourism program (subsidized holidays).

Greek tourist spots that lack English-language GNTO brochures is like going to war without ammunition, commented Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos last month during his visit to Rodos. His comment came after his surprise visit to the Greek National Tourism Organization office on the island.

The minimum hotel prices for 2010 will be reduced by five percent, according to a decision announced last month by the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels.

The Culture and Tourism Ministry last month announced its intention to establish a Conference Tourism Committee in an effort to promote Greece in international tourism markets as a meetings and convention destination.

“The Athens Convention Bureau’s aim is to highlight Greece’s image in the convention market and soon see the country among the top ten conference markets worldwide,” said the bureau’s director George Angelis during a workshop held last month during the 6th IMIC in Athens.