Trade Associations

Greece’s spending on tourism advertising will reach record highs in 2005, approaching 60 million euros. Tourism Development Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos announced last month that of the 31.8 million euros promised, Athens will fork out another 28 million euros for supplementary focused campaigns from the government’s share in the gross profits of the Mount Parnes and Corfu casinos.

Positive remarks for Greece in general and Athens in particular were included in the recent annual report of vacation preferences formulated by the Association of British Travel Agents. For 2005 vacation possibilities, the association reminded members of the efforts carried out by Greece to enrich its tourism product and to develop its lodging infrastructure.

The Union of Coastal Shipowners late last month presented the government with a series of demands they feel must be confronted and solved in order for them to invest in new passenger ships.

Olympic installations will remain in the hands of the state and will leave a lasting legacy by making Attica a year-round tourist attraction and by upgrading the quality of life of local residents, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis said during a recent press call.

The Hellenic Tourism Organization has set the development of alternative forms of tourism as a priority, the organization’s secretary-general, Haris Kokkosis, told a special event on winter tourism that was held just days after the gover-nment’s new development bill was announced.

If there is one thing certain as a result of a country holding the Olympic Games it’s that conference tourism to that country increases substantially over a five-year period. But excluding that distinct possibility, professional conference organizers insist that the conference sector remains one the most dynamic of the Greek tourism industry.

Members of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises say the initial indications for 2005 do not justify any special optimism and that unless the government speeds up its promised tourism projects, Greece will not be able to take advantage of the successful holding of the Olympic Games.

The Taekwondo sports complex on the Athens seaside at Faliron will be turned into a conference center that will be ready by this March, said Tourism Development Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos during the recent annual general assembly of the Attica Hoteliers Association.

Europe’s tourism specialists seem to be coming around to the view that the era of Greek improvisation is over and that a long-term strategy is evolving. “In 2005, you will see the first recovery signs, but the significant rise will come in the next few years when the results of your new policy become evident,” said the president of the International Federation of Tour Operators (IFTO), Martin Brackenbury.

As October comes to a close there is still no news on how the nine advertising firms faired on their bids to handle the Hellenic Tourism Organization’s advertising and promotion program for 2004-2005, which is worth about 31 million euros.