Trade Associations

The Attica Hotel Association recently held its 38th annual assembly where its members revealed and discussed statistics for 2007. The assembly was opened by the president of the association, George Tsakiris, who began by referring to 2006 as “an overall successful year for the hotel industry.”

The Hellenic Association of Travel & Tourist Agencies celebrated its eightieth anniversary at Costas Lazaridi’s Oinotria Land, which also celebrated 15 years since its creation. The event was held on the eve of world tourism day and was attended by the secretary general of the National Tourism Organization, Athanasios Oikonomou, representatives from all areas of the tourism sector and journalists in the field of tourism and travel.

Newly-appointed Tourism Development Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos recently met with representatives from various sectors of the tourism industry. The meeting was to discuss key concerns of all the representatives, which arose from the devastation caused by the recent fires to several tourist destinations throughout Greece.

The Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association chose World Maritime Day (27/9/07) to announce that “ships remain the safest and most environmentally friendly means of travel as recent statistics show activity on land is responsible for eighty percent of sea pollution whereas maritime activity is responsible for only ten percent, having seen a two percent decrease since 1990.”

The September election result brought New Democracy to power for a second term running, and was followed by changes in the structure of ministries as well as the allocation of new ministers in several positions.

The recent fires in Greece have destroyed over 1,900,000 hectares of land, claimed over 60 lives and destroyed dozens of villages. The loss of value of a number of tourism-related companies stocks on the days of the fires show how, according to the international press, the fires can directly affect tourism in Greece. Presently, according to economists, it is difficult to calculate of the long term effects of the fires on the tourism sector, which is one of the most important sources for Greece’s GDP.

Greek tourism has been offered a unique opportunity to benefit from a more organized worldwide online promotion through the adoption of the “.travel” domain ending for destinations, organizations and travel companies.

The tourism development ministry recently announced the completion of the process of selection of a committee that will be responsible for the classification of hotels and rooms to rent. It also announced developments on basic issues of the tourism industry such as the promotion of thematic tourism.

Former Tourism Development Minister Fanni-Palli Petralia, met the president of the World Travel and Tourism Council, Jean Claude Baumgarten, who recently visited Greece.

The Hellenic Association of Airline Representatives elected recently, during its annual assembly, a new board of directors. Anastasios Stylianopoulos will act as president, Dino Frantzeskaki as vice president, Margarita Zabeli as general secretary and Maria Theofanopoulos as treasurer.