Trade Associations

Greek tourism seems to be headed in the same direction it always has, the president of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), Nikos Angelopoulos, said last month while addressing Greek journalists at the association’s 2009 overview.

Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister Angela Gerekou recently commented on critical Greek press articles in regards to the bad management of Greek National Tourism Organization offices abroad.

“I want to travel without problems… That’s why I trust travel agencies,” is the title of the Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies’ campaign that was launched recently to advise travelers to always visit certified travel agencies when organizing a vacation or trip.

Professional yachts will be exempt from the extraordinary tax and annual special tax on yachts, inflicted by the previous government, by April 2010, according to Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping Minister Louka Katseli.

Next year will not be an easy year as the recuperation from the global economic crisis may possibly be sluggish, said the UNWTO’s Secretary General Taleb Rifai on the first day of the eighth annual Tourism and Development Conference of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE).

Hotels in Attica saw their average hotel occupancy rates drop by 13.62 percent, 9.26 percent and 9.25 percent in five-, four- and three-star hotels respectively during the first nine months of 2009, according to recently announced figures of the monthly study of GBR Consulting.

The increase of the sojourn tax—imposed on hotels and other private businesses that operate in tourist regions by local governments—is unconstitutional and without substantial benefit, said the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels.

MIG President Andreas Vgenopoulos recently criticized Transport Deputy Minister Nikos Sifounakis as he made reference to a “scandalous government inability” and “lack of specific policy in air transports” in regards to the latter’s handling of the interim state-subsidized four-month period route tender.

It is not rational for marine tourism to be taxed differently than other tourism sectors especially in the time of crisis, Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping Minister Louka Katseli recently said.

Following the parliamentary elections on 4 October that were marked by the victory of PASOK, new Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou announced a new cabinet and the merging of existing ministries. The ministries of culture and tourism development have become a single Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The new Culture and Tourism Minister is Pavlos Geroulanos and Deputy Minister is Angela Gerekou.