Trade Associations

The Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) recently announced that it is preparing the study “Greek Tourism headed for 2020,” which will include the strategy for building a new development model for Greek tourism. The sole sponsor and supporter of this initiative is Eurobank EFG.

The majority of hotels that modernized their operations and infrastructure and enhanced their overall presence in the domestic and international market held a strong position during the global economic crisis when compared with 2008, according to a research study carried out by the Hotels Association of Magnesia.

The results of the 2009 tourism season were higher than expected, Tourism Minister Kostas Markopoulos said after having attended a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis with representatives of the tourism sector on 1 September.

Any election period and political instability in general is negative for tourism, which in the center of Athens is up against a decrease of 20 percent or more in revenues, the president of the Athens-Attica Hotel Association, Yiannis Retsos, recently told the Greek press.

Overnight stays of Greeks at various destinations in the country reported significant reductions, which in some cases reached over 20 percent, the Research Institute for Tourism and Forecasting (ITEP) and the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels said recently. ITEP said that hotel revenue was also hit due to the reduced number of overnights of Greeks and foreigners and the lower hotel prices.

The Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works recently announced a tender for the construction and management of a one-billion-euro new airport on Crete in the Kastelli area. The new airport is scheduled to replace the existing Nikos Kazantzakis Airport at Heraklio.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) last month released the international scheduled IATA, which showed a passenger demand decline of 2.9 percent compared with the same month in 2008 while freight demand was down 11.3 percent. The international passenger load factors stood at 80.3 percent.

Consumer complaints in regards to tourism services amounted to 230 reports from 1 July-15 August compared to 184 complaints filed last year for the same period, the Consumers’ Protection Center (KEPKA) said last month.

Inspections to tourism enterprises throughout Greece more than doubled this year by Greek National Tourism Organization representatives the Tourism Ministry said last month.

Many Greek tourism businesses were found guilty of tax cheating, according to the Finance Ministry’s special inspections service YPEE.