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Greece's latest tourism industry news by Greek Travel Pages (gtp)

Convention Bureau Top Priority For New Attica Hoteliers’ Association Board

A convention and visitors bureau for Athens, that's the top priority for the new board of directors of the Attica Hoteliers' Association. Already, the board has the support of the Attica Regional Authority. The next step is to convince travel-related associations in the region to...

Athenian Callirhoe Beats The Averages

While luxury hotel units in the Athens area fight to keep their heads above water and keep above a 60% occupancy rate, the new kid on the block, The Athenian Callirhoe Exclusive Hotel, boasts rates above 75%.

WATA Delegates First To Know

Delegates to the recent World Association of Travel Agents annual general assembly here in Athens (November 28 to December 1) felt privileged to be the first to hear how 2004 Games' tickets will be distributed.

Tourism Organization Signs Deal With Visa

The Hellenic Tourism Organization and the Visa credit card company have announced an agreement for a mutual promotion project within the framework of the 2004 Olympic Games.

Greece EU Presidency Features Open Skies Policy

When Greece assumes the European Union presidency on January 1, for a six-month period, its transportation brief will include a member states' agreement to award the European Commission a wide-ranging mandate to negotiate a bilateral USA-EU "open skies" agreement.

Private Home Accommodations’ Program For 2004 Underway

Olympic Games organizer Athens 2004 last month approved two bank-led consortiums, Alpha Filoxenia 2004 and Elliniki Filoxenia, which includes a company of some 100 Greek travel agents, as the official managers of the accommodation program for the 2004 Games. The two consortiums,...

Development Minister Agrees To Formation Of Private Company To Promote Greece

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...

Athens Convention Bureau Taken Off Back Burner

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.

SETE Pessimistic For Sector Tourism This Year

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...

No Problem To Host Olympic Games Visitors

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...

Women Strongest Clients For Business Travel

The number of women that travel for professional reasons continue to increase and now reaches some 50% of total business travelers, compared with a meager 1% back in 1970, said Josiane Loutfi, president of the International Federation of Women's Travel Organizations during a...

Tourism Crisis Not Critical

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...

Around The World With SkyTeam

Some 18 sales representatives from local SkyTeam offices - Air France, Aeromexico, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta and Korean Air - called on 75 travel agencies in Athens and Thessaloniki during a recent short 3-week period. They presented the four new "Around the World Tour"...

Closures Godsend For Athens Hoteliers

Although most of the major Athenian hotels that have closed for radical renovations had planned to do so long before the September 11 attack, the timing has turned into a godsend for the rest of the sector. And with bookings down to cover only about 35% available beds, hoteliers...

Air Transport Conference

An International Conference on Air Transport and Airports and their evolution in the 21st Century takes place next month at the University of Patras on December 3 and 4. Organizers expect to welcome some 300 experts in air transport from the European Union, including Greece, and...

Galileo Introduces Ferrynet System

Galileo Hellas now offers an online booking and ticketing system for Greek ferry lines. The system, Ferrynet, a product created through cooperation with Anite Travel Systems, provides travel agencies and subscribers with access to seat availability, online reservations and ticketing.

Smaller Airlines Preferred By Travelers

It looks like the average flyer believes that the smaller airlines are safer than the big named companies. September's passenger load factor figures were down for Greece's largest airline, state-owned Olympic Airways, as well as major international carriers out of Athens, but...

Conference Cancellations Continue

One after another, conferences scheduled for the fall in Athens are being canceled along with the corresponding hotel bookings that go with them. There is no indication that they are simply being postponed.

New Tourism Crisis Committee Action Package

Government action to help tourism out of its present predicament was promised early last month by Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis. He announced the formation of an "Tourism Crisis Management Committee," headed by the ministry's tourism officials.

A note by the publisher

As the 'war' between the U.S. and terrorism broke out in North America, a small but pungent war broke out in Athens between air travel agencies and the world's airlines through their local International Air Transport Association's Bank Settlement Plan office, where all air travel...