Trade Associations

The Federation of Travel and Tourism Agencies Association in the Balkan Region is now a reality. During last month’s Tourism Panorama the final signatures from seven presidents of 10 Balkan country travel agency associations entered the cooperation agreement.

A government bill to privatize the Mont Parnes casino near Athens received parliamentary approval on March 2, despite disagreement from the opposition over its terms.

With little help but with a lot of work, Yiannis Evangelou, president of the Hellenic Association of Travel & Tourism Agents, managed to draw together all similar associations throughout the Balkans and pose an idea. “Let’s cooperate through a pan-Balkan federation of travel agency associations.”

The Hellenic Tourism Organization is now in the process of increasing promotional activities of Greece abroad. Besides agreements with major television companies in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan, a major television crew from China just left Greece after extensive filming.

Development Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos, after chairing last month’s meeting of the National Tourism Council, said his government plans to take steps to reinforce the tourism industry in the event war breaks out with Iraq. He mentioned the creation of a committee to propose measures to confront the situation, including economic support from government quarters. And besides a common EU stance, the minister said he expects other support measures from the side of the European Union.

Greece and its Mediterranean European Union neighbors must create new tourism products in order to survive and flourish as international tourism destinations, said Yiannis Evangelou, president of the Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourism Agents during a recent working lunch with media representatives. “We could soon see mass tourism arrivals to our area drop by thirty to forty percent,” he warned.

If a tourism enterprise looks at the potential gains, it will surely take the latest Hellenic Tourism Organization’s publication to heart. The manual, entitled “Making Europe Accessible for Tourists with Disabilities,” fully describes all the necessary steps required to host tourists that want to visit Greece but require special “infrastructure.” According to Christos Papoutsis, the former European Union Commissioner responsible for tourism, there are about 37 million Europeans with special needs, which is three times the number of annual arrivals to Greece. World wide, he said, the number of potential travelers with special needs reaches about 650 million.

Turkish Tourism Minister Guldal Aksit arrived in Athens last month to sign a tourism cooperation agreement with Greek Development Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos. The agreement includes efforts to promote a common tourism product to markets such as North America, China and Russia.

The latest publication by Hellenic Tourism Organization Research and Investment Director Betty Hadjinikolaou could be a godsend for tourism professionals as it’s the first time Greece’s various tourism legislation acts are collated in a single book.

Development Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos told reporters that tourism arrivals to Greece last year dropped by around 1% while tourism exchange receipts increased by some 1%. “This means quality improvements have led to an increase in tourism revenue,” he said.