Trade Associations

At a recent press call, Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis said his ministry was, preparing an “Olympic tourism package” that will address several areas of the industry, including existing infrastructure and the quality of tourist services. He stated it would be a strategic policy plan aimed at expanding and improving the tourism sector.

The Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises (SETE) recently published the results of a comparative study on tourism traffic between Athens and Istanbul.

A partial deal between the Athens 2004 Organizing Committee and the capital’s hoteliers’ union on accommodation for Olympic Games’ visitors to Athens was reached last month with the assistance of Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis.

No changes appear forthcoming within the Hellenic Tourism Organization as a result of Greece’s national elections held last month. The country’s new Minister for Development, who is responsible for tourism, Nikos Christodoulakis, met with the organization’s leaders a few days after his appointment and made no mention of intended changes.

The Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises (SETE) recently forwarded a letter to the Hellenic Tourism Organization (EOT) and suggested that a cooperation with the private sector would be ideal to promote tourism.

The Hellenic Tourism Organization’s secretary general, Evgenios Yiannakopoulos, called the country’s environment and animal protection organizations and associations to a meeting recently. He wanted their thoughts on how they and the tourism sector could best cooperate within the area of the environment in general.

One of the first moves by the newly-elected president of the Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourism Agents (HATTA), Yiannis Evangelou, was to call the trade press corps to a working breakfast. The new president wanted to outline his plans for the association.

A few years back, some Greek gastronomists created the Center for the Preservation and Promotion of Traditional Greek Gastronomy. Today, one of the center’s most successful projects created is the “Archestratos” program, named after an ancient Greek poet who scribed the Greek dishes he had tasted while traveling throughout the country. Through this program, the wealth of traditional Greek gastronomy is taught, experienced and promoted within the marketplace.

The Hellenic Tourism Organization (EOT) launched its revamped Internet site last month, but admitted there is much work to be done before the site is up to the standards planned by the organization. A brief surf, however, of www.gnto.gr shows some impressive photographs of the country’s natural beauty, albeit with little information.

Greece’s tourism industry must diversify and invest its energies into developing alternative forms of tourism, stressed Hellenic Tourism Organisation Secretary General Evgenios Yiannakopoulos at a recent press luncheon organized by the Foreign Press Association of Greece. He named theme parks, cultural tourism, spa resorts, sports-based trips, marine tourism, rural tourism and nature holidays as key areas that hold great potential for growth.