Trade Associations

Once again, the Hellenic Tourism Organization was unable to get its tourism advertising program off the ground as scheduled. Instead of last October, the organization got its 31-million-euro (10.6 billion drachmas) program for 2002 off the ground in mid January with television ads and will begin the full-fledged program on February 15.

Many years have passed since the local tourism trade called for the creation of a conference and visitor’s bureau for the Athens area. Since then, not a single positive step has been taken, but the idea remains as not only a viable one but also a vital one to implement.

Nikos Angelopoulos, vice president of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises, told its annual Christmas press gathering that he and the association were not optimistic for tourism possibilities in 2002. He said association sources foresee a possible drop in arrivals from both of Greece’s major markets, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Ministry of Development Akis Tsohatzopoulos says he will put the stress on invigorating incoming tourism from the U.S., which has been downgraded to a great extent the last few years.

Akis Tsohatzopoulos, Greece’s development minister, says requirements of the Olympic Hospitality program will be met. “There is absolutely no concern about securing the beds required for the ‘philoxenia’ program, since, out of the 23,000 rooms needed, 20,000-21,000 have already been secured,” he says. “We expect that the remaining 2,500 will be secured through the timely completion of 48 applications for the construction of new hotels in the Athens region.”

If properly implemented, measures proposed by the European Commission could alleviate the impact of any long-term negative effects to Europe’s tourism sector. Any decline in arrivals to Europe could be no more than a passing phase.

The privatization of the Mont Parnes Casino is entering its final stage. Hyatt Regency together with construction company Hellenic Technodomiki have submitted one of the offers, while another bid came from the group of Club Hotel Loutraki, Piraeus Bank, the construction companies Balafas, Gekat and Gnomon, and ship-owner Marinakis.

Economy and Finance Deputy Minister Christos Pachtas approved credits worth 32 million euros (11 billion drachmas) to finance a marketing campaign for Greek tourism, domestically and abroad. That is twice the figure spent last year, the minister said.

European Union travel agencies may be suffering somewhat financially, but for the moment the repercussions from the September terrorism attack are not near as bad as first anticipated, said Carl Axel Rheborg, president of ECTAA, which is the group of national agents and tour operators’ associations within the European Union.

Hellenic Tourism Properties is about to turn its management over to the private sector.