Trade Associations

Some 750 billion drachmas in direct and indirect support goes to the country’s tourism sector by the year 2006. That’s 25 percent of the total national and regional programs for competitiveness and growth, Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis said last month.

The Hellenic Tourism Organization last month continued its inspections of tourist resorts and businesses around the country. The organization’s secretary general, Evgenios Yiannakopoulos, said that in a single week last month 51 inspectors checked 309 hotel units, 139 tourism enterprises, including travel agencies and car hire firms, 26 sea ports, five airports, two museums and 19 beaches at destinations, that host major tourism traffic. A particular focus was placed on cases of consumer exploitation.

The executive infrastructure of the Hellenic Tourism Organization changes this month, according to recent statements by Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis. Basic changes expected include the placement of a tourism secretariat under the development ministry. The new tourism secretary will replace the position of secretary general, and most in the sector see this as the first step in re-introducing a tourism ministry.

Athens hoteliers have agreed to set aside 80 percent of the capital’s beds to accommodate the Olympic family during the 2004 Games. At a meeting last month with Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis and Athens 2004 Organizing Committee Chairwoman Yianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, the president of the Athens Hoteliers’ Association, Spiros Divanis, said hoteliers would sign a contract to that effect before the end of July.

Tourist traffic to the island of Crete this year will drop by 10 percent, predict Cretan travel agencies. They add that arrivals could drop even further next year. Crete Travel Agent’s Association President Manolis Papakaliatis said tour operators continue to pressure his members to freeze and even reduce rates.

The prospects for cooperation between travel agencies and the transport industry were raised at the first public discussion recently hosted by the Hellenic Association of Travel & Tourism Agencies (HATTA). Last month the association launched the first in a series of one-day seminars aimed at exchanging views and improving coordination within the tourism industry, as well as helping to solve problems that face the sector.

Spiros Kokotos, president of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), called the tourism press corps together last month to reiterate industry complaints that the government was not doing its best to confront tourism problems.

A package of measures aimed at increasing the level of tourism services offered in Greece was announced recently by Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis. The package, called “Tourism Readiness 2000″, is seen as a positive measure and one that provides tourists with some knowledge so as to confront problems, such as overcharging. For example, restaurant owners will be asked to post outside their establishments their menus complete with prices.

The European Union is studying Greek proposals for the European tourism industry following submissions made by Greek Euro-MP Costis Hadjidakis, who heads the European Parliament’s regional transport and tourism policy committee.

Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis promises to have the complete Athens Festival program for 2001 ready, complete with with confirmed dates and times, by the fall. The minister says this very up-marker Greek cultural program could be very effective for enticing visitors, but travelers must know dates of events well in advance in order to program their trips accordingly. He also believes Greece could cooperate with other EU countries to create cultural tourism packages.