Trade Associations

After the transformation of the World Tourism Organization into a specialized agency of the United Nations, the tourism organization now refers to itself as UNWTO. It’s newly-elected secretary general – till the end of 2009 – Francesco Frangialli, said because the acronym WTO was being shared by both his organization and the world trade organization, and caused problems for some, the name change was necessary.

The WTO is to meet with the World Health Organization to combat the looming threat of an avian flu epidemic, which could have a serious impact on international tourism. “We must ensure that people are not deterred from traveling without good reason,” said WTO Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli, prior to the meeting.

According to data published recently, more than 40 percent of Greek hotels, an estimated 3,500 out of a total of 8,500, are more or less in violation of zoning regulations.

The strong rise in the number of foreign visitors this year should not cause officials to relax their efforts to solve the problems of the tourism industry, the Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises said last month.

The government’s “Inner Cabinet” met recently to discuss the 10-year Greek tourism development plan drafted by the tourism ministry. According to the plan, Greece would welcome 20 million foreign visitors to 20 million upon the plan’s completion, up from a projected 14 million this year, sources said after an Inner Cabinet meeting, which approved a scheme to attract more tourists from the high-income brackets.

The Tourism Development Ministry and the Greek National Tourism Organization recently announced a tender for the design and production of the creative aspect for next year’s tourism advertising campaign.

Tsabikos Moschatos, president of the Panhellenic Federation of Tourism Enterprises, last month sent a letter to Tourism Development Minister and urged him to set up a tourism crime agency to track people or companies that advertise tourism services without the official operating license. He said that many instances of fraudulent behavior from supposedly legitimate companies on the Internet have emerged recently.

Three major long-term leasing projects are in the works by the Tourism Development Company (ETA), for the public properties that include the Corfu casino, the plots housing a golf course at Afandou on Rodos, and another at Epanomi, near Thessaloniki, for the creation of a new course.

Late last month the new board of directors for the Hellenic Tourism Organization (EOT) met under the presidency of the tourism minister who spoke on the future aims of his ministry and the importance of the tourism organization in implementing the country’s tourism policy.

Greece’s tourism industry will see stronger-than-projected growth this year, Tourism Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos said during a meeting in Thessaloniki with the National Tourism Council.