"Australia has the most successful concession model in the world... In the Greek case, the country’s three busiest airports -- Thessaloniki, Rhodes and Hania – are all being handed over to one investor with the government as the other competitor." - Opinion editorial by Takis...
Olga Kefalogianni was among the few untouched ministers and remained at her post as Tourism Minister on Monday, 24 June, following the cabinet reshuffle of Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
“The time has come for the recovery of Greek tourism,” the president of the Hellenic Association of Travel & Tourist Agencies (HATTA), Yiorgos Telonis, said while opening the association’s annual general assembly on Wednesday, 27 March, in Athens.
Plans to modernize Greek aviation and land passenger transport and overturn obstacles that prevent foreigners from visiting Greece were announced recently by Transport Minister Kostis Hatzidakis.
A bill that will regulate the legal details in regards to the pending liberalization of land passenger transport will be tabled in parliament in April 2013 by the Transport Ministry, the General Pan-Hellenic Federation of Tourism Enterprises (GEPOET) said. By 2015 the market...
Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Yeroulanos sparked an angry reaction from tourism professionals recently when he signed a ministerial decision in November, which liberalized the tour bus profession so licenses would be easier obtained while the profession of KTEL intercity...
President of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), Andreas Andreadis, appeared quite outspoken last month and received a round of applause from the audience on the first day of HAPCO's 7th Pan-Hellenic Conference, held at Aegli Zappeion in Athens on 8 December 2011.
After a suspension of mobilizations in August, Greek taxi owners and drivers resumed protest action in September in response to the government’s proposed law to liberalize the taxi sector and lift all restrictions on the number of licenses issued.
Some 20 percent of bookings to Greece were canceled for the mid August-October period during the three-week strike of Greek taxi owners and drivers, press reports said last month.
Tourism professionals stressed the taxi strike cost Greek tourism 250,000-300,000 bookings and...
The Greek Government will cooperate with low-cost airlines and provide every possible facility on a business level, Deputy Culture and Tourism Minister George Nikitiadis said in a recent meeting with 18 representatives of international low-cost airlines.
“Athens has managed to be included among the top 20 conference destinations of the world but, from this point on, the Greek capital needs substantial assistance and significant support from the central government,” Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis told GTP last month.
The Transport and Communications Ministry recently circulated a 16-page guide/booklet titled "Getting around Athens-What I need to know" that includes the rights and obligations of passengers who move around the capital via public transit.
A new international airport costing more than 1 billion euros will be built on Crete, according to a government announcement. The new airport will be able to serve 5,000 holidaymakers at a time and will also serve as a transport hub for air cargo in the eastern Mediterranean.
Transport Minister Michael Liapis told reporters last month that he would soon appoint a board of directors for the proposed new Olympic Airways company, which he expects to start flying this spring (press reports say September at the earliest).
Olympic Airways is about to be molded into slimmer carrier and renamed Olympic Airlines. The launch date of the new company has not been announced but is expected to follow soon after passage of the pertinent bill now in parliament.
One way or another, the government here says a permanent solution to long-lasting problems with state-owned Olympic Airways will be found and implemented before this winter rolls in. So far, according to a business plan leaked to Greek media, a new company, to be named New...
The government is willing to meet Olympic Airways' debts despite the anticipated reaction from the European Union, said Transport Minister Christos Verelis in a recent interview with the Greek daily newspaper Ta Nea.
