March 2002

From My Notebook By Connie Soloyanis
- There is optimism for the future of tourism to Greece. For one sign the
German market, the leader in incoming numbers of tourists to Greece, has indications that there may be an increase of up to five percent this year over last year. The bulk of last year’s visitors came before September 11.
- Another positive sign: Staff reductions in agencies have ceased.
- But in the meanwhile some local travel agents have found the time (and inclination) to participate in interliner and other fam tours.
- Horizon Travel, one of the oldest and most successful agencies in Greece, is expanding its tour operations department.
- The Hellenic National Tourism Organization (ΗΝΤΟ) has doubled its promotion budget over that of last year. This year’s marketing campaign is rated at 32 million euros (equivalent to 11 billion drachmas).
- Parallel to this the ΗΝΤΟ three-year subsidy program to extend the tourist season (through the months of March and November) is anticipated to attract some 100,000 «extra» tourists and to add some one million overnights. The subsidy is rated at 40 euros per client.
- The ΗΝΤΟ, in addition of anticipating hordes of tourists from China, also has high hopes of developing incoming tourism from Kenya.
- First four areas of Greece earmarked for development of ecotourism facilities are about the cities of Patras, Volos and Thessaloniki on the mainland and Heraklion on the island of Crete.
- The newest deluxe resort in Greece, the Grand Resort Lagonissi, features suites and bungalows with private (heated) swimming pools and fireplaces, private valets as well as limousine, helicopter and Learjet services.
- Recent survey shows that 67 percent of the workforce in the hospitality indrustry are women. Some of Athens better dining spots have female chefs.
- Another survey of the European Union indicates that the French live the longest in Europe -with 75.5 years for men and 83 for women. Must be the wine!
- The City of New York has come up with a unique tourist offering. So-called Insiders Tours of 68 of the city’s museums, performing arts centers, historical sites and zoos; one hour-long explorations of the finest treasures each site has to offer have been created.
- So strong and universal are the effects of the first Harry Potter motion picture and books that the British Tourist Authority (ΒΤΑ) is now offering a special map to guide those interested to key locations utilized in the production of the film. Sites include the Cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral, Anwick Castle in Northumberland and Manchester Castle in that city.
- The Olympic Torch, ignited from rays of the sun at the ancient site of Olympia, where the original Olympic Games were held (circa 776 Β.C) had been run first across Greece, and then flown from Athens to Atlanta (via Delta Air Lines), and then run to Salt Lake City for this year’s Winter Olympics. It took some 11,500 torchbearers to make the run. Three of the torchbearers (through Carson City, Nevada) were amputees, wearing prosthetic legs. Each bearer ran for about two tenths of a mile in an average of eight minutes.
- Among «preparations» for the 2004 Olympics to be held in Athens, a host of «official» souvenirs (including such items as caps, Τ-shirts, towels, jackets, balls and sneakers) have been put on sale in local shops.
- American banks in Greece (Citibank, American Express, etc.) are losing all their U.S citizen accounts due to a conflicting of U.S.Α and Greek banking laws.
- The U.S.Α and Greece have been rated as the world’s top sexual superpowers. In a survey of 28 countries, residents of the U.S.Α were credited with making love more often than any other nationality, and Greece was a close second. Americans are credited with making love on an average of 124 times a year, with Greeks close behind with 117 times. Japan rated at the bottom, with a recorded average of 36 sexual encounters a year.

RAIL EUROPE BUYS DER RAIL COMBO
Two longstanding competitors in the market for European rail passes have now joined forces. Rail Europe, based in White Plains, has purchased Destination Europe Resources (DER), based in Rosemont, Ill. No purchase price was disclosed. Both companies offer passes and point-to-point tickets for European rail travel. Rail Europe CEO Bernard Frelat estimates that together the two companies have 80 to 85 percent of the U.S. market for rail travel bookings on the European Continent. Rail Europe also owns Avanti Destinations, which features European and Latin American packages, and online wholesaler EuroVacations.com. DER acts as an airline and car rental consolidator for Europe. DER will remain as a separate brand with its current management team, but Frelat says a new holding company name instead of Rail Europe will be selected shortly to encompass all operations. Both Frelat and DER President Heinz Wesner say their combination was accelerated, in part, by the downturn in business following Sept. 11.

SIA FLYING HIGHER
Singapore Airlines continues to win accolades. Readers of the travel magazine Conde Naste have again voted SIA «Best International Carrier» -the 13th time in the past 14 years. The airline rated 82.4 per cent, meaning this proportion of 29,000 people polled rated it «excellent» or «very good» on five criteria-ticketing/boarding, cabin comfort, cabin service, food and beverage, and entertainment options. Affiliate Virgin Atlantic was judged second with a 70.9 per cent response. Meanwhile, Financial Times has ranked SIA 50th in a survey of the world’s most respected companies-the only Asian company outside of Japan to make the list.
The carrier also topped the Far Eastern Economic Review’s list of 34 leading Singapore companies, while last November, it picked up four awards from US-based Business Traveler International magazine. They were for Best Overall Airline, Best First Class, Best Business Class (international flights) and Best Trans-Pacific Business Class. It also won-for the seventh time in a row-the Best Foreign Airline award from the Scottish Passenger Agents Association, as well as the Airline of the Year title in the Australian National Travel Industry Awards.

COLOMBIAN BECOMES PRESIDENT OF UNIVERSAL FEDERATION OF TRAVEL AGENTS ASSOCIATION
On 25 January, 2002, during the UFTAA (Universal Federation of Travel Agents╒ Associations) Congress held in Tunis, Tunisia, Dr. Oscar Rueda Garcia was elected Chairman of the Federation - an organisation which gathers the Associations of 90 countries, representing 40,000 travel agencies world-wide, and having its head office in Monaco.
This 47 years old Colombian lawyer has already a great experience in the area of tourism, as he had been holding for more than 15 years the position of president of the National Association of Travel Agencies of Colombia (ΑΝΑΤΟ).
He has been successively member of Executive Committee of UFTAA for two years (1997/98), then Vice-President, Finance (1999) and Vice-President of the Federation in 2000 and 2001.
Since UFTAA was created 36 years ago, this is the second time a Latin-American occupies the chair of the Federation. In 1978, this position was held by Eduardo Arrarte from Peru.
Oscar Rueda takes over from Mike Hannah, from Canada, who has held the position of President during the two previous years. The other members of the Board of Directors are Vice-Chairman Udaya Nanayakkara from Sri Lanka, and Vice-Chairman, Finance Mario Bevacqua, from Italy, together with representatives of the associations of Australia, Cameroon, Canada, Kenya, Malta and Tunisia.
Oscar Rueda becomes Chairman of UFTAA at a period of unrest for the industry, marked by commission cuts and the problems met by the tourist industry, which increased after the 11 September events. Hence his main challenge will consist in negotiating a new agreement between the International Air Transport Association, ΙΑΤΑ, and the travel agencies - a task UFTAA has been working on since last year - as well as in overcoming the obstacles and issues met by the incoming tourism world-wide.
The implementation of an in-depth reform of the Federation will be one of the other tasks the new chairman will have to deal with.

GULF AIR REVIEWS SCHEDULES AND OPERATIONS
Gulf Air has made a comprehensive review on its schedules and operations at regional and global scales, with the aim of better serving its valued clients and fulfill their expectations towards their favorite airline. In this respect, Gulf Air has decided to improve the Gulf / Jakarta route by increasing the frequencies from 5 to 7 per week. The step aims at assisting the airline to meet the growing demand on travel, particularly for the Umra and Haj traffic.
London, Paris and Frankfurt have become the prime European routes for Gulf Air in the Northern Hemisphere. The airline has decided to enhance focus on these routes in order to assimilate the incremental traffic in all market segments in both the business and leisure market. Meanwhile, Gull Air has decided to cease operations to Milan and Athens, due to the fact that the demand on these routes has not met the company╒s expectations.
Aircraft Capacity will be redirected to areas where the demand requires additional support. Gulf Air also decided to maintain services to East Africa, with a joint 3 flights per week operation, servicing both Nairobi and Dar Essalm. Zanzibar route will be terminated, but catered for through local feed operation. These popular services will cater for the growth that Gulf Air is witnessing, particularly from Asia to the African Continent.
Likewise, Gulf Air will continue to maintain a comprehensive Gulf / Asia operation to the following cities: Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta and Manila. The airline has put into concideration the popularity of Asia as a tourist destination, and will continue to grow the frequencies to meet the growing demand in Summer 2002. The airline will also continue to offer one of the most comprehensive route structures in both the Gulf and Middle East region to meet the growing demand from its valued customers.
2002 will be no different with convinient flights schedules to prime cities being offered throughout the day to meet the needs of its customers. In 2002, Gulf Air will also explore joint opportunities with other major airlines to see how through cooperation the customers can receive further benefits.

PLAN TURN POW CAMP ATTRACTION
Α couple are planning to turn a former prisoner of war camp into a tourist attraction in north-east England.
Thousands of men lived in huts at Harperley Camp in County Durham during the Second World War.
The 50 huts are still standing and many contain murals the German and Italian men painted to remind them of their homelands.
Lisa and James McLeod want to turn the camp, which includes a theatre, into a monument to the prisoners, reports the Northern Echo.
Regarded as a low security risk, the men were taken out during the day to work on farms and mixed easily with the local community.
The 20-acre camp is hidden among fir trees and has only recently come to the attention of English
Heritage, which is looking to add it to a list of scheduled monuments.
New owners Mr and Mrs McLeod have been clearing weeds from the site. They hope families of former prisoners will want to visit the camp.

MARIS HOTELS CONTINUE TRAINING
The second Maris Hotels conference called "Together, with care for the people, for: Quality-Development-Profitability" took place on the 25th and 26th of February at the conference centre of Creta Maris in Chersonissos of Heraklion.
Maris Hotels have also organized some other educational programs like foreign languages, computers,etc in order to improve the quality of the services offered by the hotels.
During the conference both the employees and the management participated in four workshops on professional and general interest issues, including personal relationships, psychology, team work, environmental and training issues, etc.

ONLINE HOTEL VENTURE RAISES ANTICOMPETITIVE FEARS
The formation of Hotel Distribution System LLC (HDS) by five of the world's largest hotel chains has raised fears of anticompetitiveness among some travel agents. However, one industry analyst said those fears are largely unfounded.
Hilton Hotels Corp., Hyatt Corp., Marriott International, Six Continents Hotels
Inc. (the parent company of Holiday Inn hotels), Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Pegasus Solutions Inc. announced the creation of HDS last week. The venture will create a real-time connection from all of the member hotel reservation systems to Web sites, which will serve as the "merchant of record" for booking rooms.
"Anytime major players get together, it raises the specter of antitrust issues," said Richard Μ. Copland, president and CEO of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) in Alexandria, Va. "This joint venture has the potential to harness the vast power of the Internet for anticompetitive purposes."
Pegasus already manages the connection between many hotel reservation systems and the global distribution systems that publish fares and availability to travel agencies both online and off-line. Pegasus will use its technology, with a few software modifications, to make a real-time connection between the hotels and the merchant-of-record sites.
That means a site such as Orbitz.com would purchase the right to sell rooms and guarantee the hotel a minimum price and would then mark up the price to make a profit. With the real-time connection, hotels could change the minimum price and room availability at any time.
HDS will also allow a traveler or travel agent to search for the best deals by location -- not necessarily by brand -- through the merchant-of-record model. Linking the room pricing and availability.
According to Pegasus CEO John Davis, Orbitz is the first partner to sign an agreement with HDS. The ultimate goal is to create a consumer site specifically for HDS, Davis said.
Chicago-based Orbitz LLC has agreed to rely on HDS exclusively for merchant-of record-deals. But HDS is actively shopping for other partners, including travel agencies, which makes the ASTA's fears seem overblown, said Henry Harteveldt, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass.
"The ASTA response is expected, and they really did jump the gun," he said.
There are also two well-established competitors, the Hotel Reservation Network and Expedia Inc., which also operate on the merchant-of-record model, he said, and it's unlikely that HDS will put those two out of business.

WOBBLY MILLENNIUM BRIDGE FIXED
The Millennium Bridge, which was closed for swaying, will reopen on Friday 22 February.
The £18.2m bridge, central London's first new river crossing for more than a century, was opened on 10 June 2000 but was shut three days later.
Engineers who decided to close the bridge after it began swaying alarmingly blamed the "synchronised footfall" effect of hundreds of people stepping in unison.
In February 2001, following research and studies into the problem, the Millennium Bridge Trust announced that it had raised the £5m needed to carry out the recommended modifications to the bridge.
They involved the installation of 91 dampers, similar to car shock absorbers, designed to reduce the movement of the 350-metre bridge.
Following walking tests on the bridge which were analysed by engineering company Arup it was felt the bridge was safe to be used by the public.
The bridge was designed as the result of a collaboration between the architects, Foster and Partners, the British sculptor, Sir Anthony Caro and the consulting engineers, Arup.
It is the capital's first dedicated pedestrian bridge across the Thames and the first new river crossing in central London for more than 100 years, since the opening of Tower Bridge in 1894.
It links St Paul's Cathedral and the City of London on the north bank with Tate Modern and the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the south.
The bridge - described as a "blade of light" by promoters - was inaugurated by the Queen in May 2000.
More than 160,000 people crossed the bridge during its opening weekend during which the swaying effect was noticed.
The extreme wobble meant the bridge had to be closed after fears for public safety.
Those who had made it across said they had been surprised by the swaying sensation, comparing the vibration to the feeling of sea-sickness. Work to correct the problem started in May 2001 and was completed in January this year. The engineers then tested the modifications using 2,000 volunteers.
Architects, engineers and workers from surrounding offices were marshalled en masse across the bridge, led by the Mayor of Southwark Hilary Wines, to check on the success of repairs.
The test results were analysed by Arup and independent experts.
FBI officer questions suspect how he boarded flight in the U.S. with gun
An FBI agent has questioned a US citizen in Romania amid charges the man had smuggled a gun on a flight from the America.
US officials want to know how Sorin Dragoi slipped the 5.6 mm Baretta past safety checks.
Dragoi, 32, of Troy, Michigan, was detained after a pistol was discovered in his checked bags during an Χ-ray check at the airport in Timisoara.
At Romanian airports, bags go through an Χ-ray machine before departure and on arrival. He was arrested on suspicion of illegal weapons possession and smuggling. If convicted, he could face up to seven years in prison.
Romanian authorities said the gun was found wrapped in green foam in a jewelry box with a fake bottom. The gun was not loaded and cartridges were packed separately, they said.
In the United States, firearms may be checked in luggage if aviation officials are notified and the guns are unloaded, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Dragoi filed no such paperwork, prosecutors said.
Dragoi said he kept the pistol hidden in the jewelry box to stop his 5-year-old son from playing with it. The boy traveled with Dragoi from the United States and is staying with family in Timisoara.
Dragoi, who works as a driver in Michigan, said: "Ι was in a hurry to catch the plane and Ι asked my wife to take the gun out of the box," he said, adding that he was trying to get home quickly to visit his sick father.
Born in Romania, Dragoi told police he had flown on the Romanian airline Tarom from New York after a connecting flight from Detroit. Prosecutors declined to reveal details on his itinerary or say which airline he had taken in the United States.
There was no comment from the FBI office in Bucharest, which was closed due to a U.S. holiday.
The FBI opened an office in Romania in August 2000 to cooperate with Romanian authorities in fighting cross-border crime.

PUNCTUALITY IMPROVES FOR HOLIDAY FLIGHTS – REPORT
Airlines have shaved just under five minutes off the average delay on charter flights over the last year, new figures revealed today.
With the exception of Airtours, all the five major holiday airlines reduced, in terms of minutes, their average delays in April-October 2001 compared with the same period in 2000.
"Summer 2001 provided good news, but the bad news is that it only takes us back to where we were six years ago," said the Air Transport Users Council (AUC) which published the figures.
The statistics follow Civil Aviation Authority airport-by-airport punctuality figures for July-September 2001 which were published earlier this week.
The AUC figures relate to charter airlines which conducted at least 100 flights on 10 routes from nine UK airports during the April-October 2001 period.
The airports are Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle.
The AUC statistics showed: 15.6% of charter flights were more than one hour late last summer compared with 18.0% in summer 2000.
"It is good to see our major charter airlines are among the best timekeepers but we still have a few horrors down at the foot of the punctuality table," said AUC chairman Ian Hamer.

BRITISH AIRWAYS ΤΟ CANCEL FLIGHTS ΤΟ MONTEGO ΒΑΥ
British Airways plans to cancel its four weekly flights between Gatwick Airport and Montego Bay in Jamaica in April.
The airline's Barbados-based spokesman says ΒΑ currently operates flights to Montego Bay and Kingston, Jamaica.
He says the Montego Bay flights will end on April 1, but the airline will keep a service to the capital, Kingston.
ΒΑ also plans to add a weekly flight to the Bahamas and Grand Cayman Island as of April 1.
The flights will start in London, with stops at Grand Cayman, the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos.
ΒΑ already has flights to Grand Cayman three times a week; to the Bahamas four times a week; and once weekly to the Turks and Caicos.

NEW OFFICES FOR KIRIAKOULIS GROUP
Kiriakoulis Group moves to new central offices
The companies of Kiriakoulis Group including its "flagship" Kiriakoulis Mediterranean Cruises shipping company S.Α moved to new central offices. Kiriakoulis Group gathered its business activities at the new building which is situated on 7, Alimos Avenue, in Alimos.
Specificaly, the new building will house the following companies: "Kiriakoulis Mediterranean Cruises Shipping Company S.Α", "Kiriakoulis Mediterranean Villages S.Α", "Kiriakoulis Maritime Holdings S.Α", Mediterranean Marinas S.Α", "Greek Buildings of Investments S.Α", and "ASDAP COM S.Α of Computer Science".

SLIGHT INCREASE FROM BRITISH TOURISTS
According to the data of the big Tour Operators of Britain in 2002, the bookings for destinations in Greece have increased to 2%. This due to the Greek tourist product which is "good value for money" as the British Tour Operators call it, and to the aggressive policy of the Tour Operators for Greece.
During this period the image of Greece in the British market is very positive.
Furthermore, there was also a dynamic beginning in the promotion of Greece in the market of U.S.Α. as G.Ν.Τ.Ο. participated in the annual tourist exhibition TRAVEL SHOW, which was organized by the newspaper L.Α.TIMES in Los Angeles on the 16th and 17th of February.

STARWOOD SELLS CIGA DIVISION
The company Starwood Hotels and Resorts sells the fixed assets of CIGA SpΑ.
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. announced that it has begun the selling of portfolio of Ciga which consists of 25 luxurious hotels, golf courts and marinas.
Deutsche Bank, Jones Lang La Salle Hotels and JP Morgan offer consultancy to Starwood for the disposal and promotion of the specific luxurious and awarded hotels.
Some of the luxury hotels included in CIGA portfolio and Danieli and Gritti Palace in Venice, Grand Hotel in Florence, Principe de Savoia in Milan, St.Regis Grand in Rome and Westin Palace in Madrid, which are all included in the 2002 Gold List of Conde Nast Traveler's magazine.
CIGA owns the hotel brands St.Regis Luxury collection, Westin and Sheraton. Ron Brown, financial manager of top hotels, incomparable in the hotel market and we expect a great interest and increasing purchasing prices.

ATHENS CLEANS UP ITS SKYLINE
Athens is cleaning up its cluttered skyline in an effort to restore some of the city's ancient glory for the Olympic Games in 2004.
Armed with cranes and new legal powers, construction crews are tearing down advertising signs that obscure views of the 2,500-year-old Parthenon and other ancient monuments in the center of Athens.
Going are glaring ads for weight-losing clubs welded to the sides of buildings, insurance companies' neon signs and rooftop billboards with giant pictures of hamburgers and cigarette packets.
The work is part of a $36 million urban improvement project to refurbish monuments and replace busy roads that connect ancient sites with cobbled pedestrian walkways. The redevelopment project is Athens' biggest since Greece won its independence from the Ottoman Empire some 170 years ago, when its main public buildings and roads were constructed.

POSITIVE FEAD BACK FROM VIENNA ΕΧΗΙΒΙΤΙΟΝ
The President of G.Ν.Τ.Ο. Mr. John Patellis visited the international tourist exhibition of Vienna. Mr. Patelis met representatives of the biggest travel organizations of Austria, such as Neckermann Austria, TUI Austria, Goulet Touropa Touristik, Ruela-Reiseladen, FTI, ITS Billa Touristik, Lato, etc.
According to the statistics, the number of the Austrians who go on a main vacation trip annually, amounts to approximately 4 million of 50% of the population.
More than half a million Austrian tourists visit Greece during the last years.
Most Austrians visit Greece during May-June and September and prefer packaged tours.
Representatives of the biggest Austrian tourist organizations came to the conclusion that this year Greece will be the first choice of destination for Austrians, after the operation of the International Exhibition of Tourism "Holidays 2002" which took place in Vienna.
Most tourist agents of Austria expressed this point of view to the President of G.Ν.Τ.Ο. Mr. John Patellis who visited the exhibition.
According to the evaluations, there will be a significant increase in the number of Austrians who will visit Greece in comparison to last year.
One of the main reasons for which Austrians will prefer Greece is the fact that Greece offers to the tourist of this country everything he expects from his summer holidays, such as the "harmonious relationship" between the prices and offered services and also it is a christian destination with a steady political situation and security. Furthermore its currency now is the Euro.
The Austrian Travel organizations consider Greece to be a "safe" business and tourist destination.
According to the typical characteristics of the tourist market in Austria, most tourists go on packaged tours (70-80%), while one out of three Austrians prefers to visit tourist destinations which are not standard.
According to the exhibitions of OOSA, in comparison to other European tourists, the Austrians spend the most money on their vacation.

SUCCESSFULLY CONDUCTED INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF «LES CLEFS D’OR» ΙΝ ATHENS
The 49th International congress 'LES CLEFS D'OR-The Golden Keys' took place in Athens on 9-14 February 2002. There were 300 participants from 35 countries who represented 3000 members from all over the world.
During the conference, employees in Tourism/Hotels (Receptionists) were given the chance to get to know our country and especially Athens.
They also visited archaeological and historical places in Attica and Argolida.
International conferences which take place in a different country every year aim at:
- The improvement of the relationships among countries-members.
- The exchange of different points of view, knowledge, experiences and education.
- The development of partnership and friendship between the members.
- The promotion of the sales and advertising of the hotels where members work.
- Getting to know the city which hosts them.
- The promotion of the Tourism of the country in which they take place.

SWISSAIR RENAMED SWISS
Until the end of March 2002 Crossair will be flying with its aircrafts from/to Athens-Switzerland (Zurich and Geneva) with three daily flights. The connection of Thessaloniki and Geneva remains the same.
On the first of April 2002, Crossair "will pass the torch" to the new Swiss national air-carrier, which will be characterized by Swiss quality and the genuine Swiss name: "SWISS".
SWISS, with a fleet of 128 aircrafts will conduct flights to 123 destinations in 60 countries.
The managing director of Crossair, Mr. Andre Dose, presented the new airline at an international press conference which took place at the central offices of Crossair in Basle.
SWISS, as a descendant of Swissair and Crossair and being supplied with the Swiss principles, will represent luxury, prestige, the prefect service and security. It will also become one of the most reliable and modern airlines all over the world.

RESULTS OF SATELITE CONGRESS HELD ΑΤ ΧΕΝΙΑ
The need for the upgrading of Greek Tourism and the exploitation of its competitive advantages, were the main points of the 33rd international exhibition of tourist industry which took place at Ο.L.Ρ. (in Piraeus) at the 33rd Xenia.
The most important issues raised were the following:
1) The need for modernization of the infrastructure facilities of Greek Tourism which lead to the upgrading of tourist services.
2) The contribution of the Major projects to the general upgrading of Greek Tourism.
3) The reforming of the sector of air transport in Greece as it is estimated that this kind of sector plays an important role in the presence of Greece in international tourism.
4) The need for a recording of the history of Greek Tourism and the best possible way in which the past can be exploited in order to improve the Greek presence of Tourism during the new decade.
The 33rd international exhibition of tourist industry was inaugurated by the assistant minister of development Mr. D. Georgakopoulos.
The President and managing director of the exhibition Xenia Exhibitionary Events S.Α. is Mr. Τ. Koumanis and the General Director is Mr. D. Koumanis.

VERNICOS ΑΤ MARINE SALON LONDON
Vernicos GEPA MARINE in the international marine salon of London 2002.
The international marine salon of London which took place on 3-13 January 2002 had a great success. Also Vernicos GEPA MARINE- a subsidiary of Vernicos Yachts participated in the salon as a representative of the famous English shipyard of SUNSEEKER yachts. At the salon there were visitors from all over the world as well as Greece who showed their buying interest not only in the new models but also in the older ones.
Totally 12 models of Sunseeker were presented, from which 3 were new: Predator 61, Camargue 50 and Χ5 Sport. The older ones were the following: Predator 75, Manhattan 74, Predator 68, Manhattan 64, Manhattan 56, Superhawk 50, Camargue 44, Superhawk 34 and Χ5 2000.
Two top international prizes for 105 yachts Sunseeker.
In October 2001, 105 Yacht the flagship of sunseeker was awarded two of the most significant prizes universally, the international Superyacht Design Awards which were given by Superyacht society, based in Florida in North America.
Sunseeker founded a new technical center in Poole of Britain, worth of 10 million English pounds and covers an area of 16722 square meters. The new facilities offer various services. There is also a special department of design, research and development. 99% of Sunseeker's products are exported all over the world and employs more than 1.100 fully trained employees.

ΡΑΝ-TOURIST MOVEMENT
The members of the Board of the Board of Directors and the members of ΗΑΤΤΑ expressed their indignation at a ΗΑΤΤΑ conference after the denial of the Government to take the necessary measures in order to relieve and the Tourism offices.
The members of ΗΑΤΤΑ and the representatives of ΡΟΕΤ, PETAGA and SEPOS decided to organize a pan-tourist movement with the participation of all tourism organizations and the employees in Tourism offices.
Admittedly, all the tourist enterprises try hard to keep their employees who are aware of the bad economic situation that the enterprises face.
Specifically, a committee was formed in which the chairs of the present officials will participate in order to decide on a plan of a common action and demonstrations.
As the president of ΗΑΤΤΑ, Mr John Evagelou mentioned, the main reasons that have motivated the representatives of tourist enterprises towards the above demonstrations are their disappointment in the attitude of the State towards the repeated and documented suggestions for the taking of measures. In these suggestions the bad economic situation of tourist and travel offices was mentioned after the terrorist attack on the U.S.Α
According to the conference of ΗΑΤΤΑ, the attitude of the Minister of Economy Mr Christodoulakis who rejected all the demands was groundless, cruel and leveling because:
-the tourism sectors and particularly the tourist offices and the travel agencies, the sector of conferences and the cruise have been very badly affected.
-The acceptance of most documented demands does not create a big financial extra charge thus the pretext "we don't give away money", is not justified.
Indicatively, the suggestions of ΗΑΤΤΑ concern among other things the postponement of the time of payment of the insurance and tax obligations and the immediate carrying out internal training programs for the maintenance of the staff, adjusted to the needs of tourism enterprises.
So according to the conference of ΗΑΤΤΑ all the above facts prove that nobody studied neither the problems of the field nor the suggestions in order to find a satisfactory solution.
ΗΑΤΤΑ also claimed that through the co-operation of other officials of the field will proceed to further steps in order to support the enterprises.
According to ΗΑΤΤΑ, the tourist offices and travel agencies face serious problems after the terrorist attack on U.S.Α, while the Government stays indifferent. ΗΑΤΤΑ has been trying to reduce the negative consequences and reinforce Greek Tourism expecting the taking of certain measures. 4.500 tourism offices without any kind of support for the maintenance of their staff will proceed to dismissals and will be forced to a seasoning occupation of the staff. Nowadays, plenty of enterprises have closed down while others face the risk of suspending their business.
Furthermore, according to ΗΑΤΤΑ, employment should be subsidized.
According to the findings of a recent survey of ECTAA, the French government will postpone the payment of the duties and taxes, in Spain the government studies various options such as the delaying of paying VAT and other kinds of payments to the State etc, in Holland a program is implemented according to which the employees are compensated for the period during which they did not work, by 20-50% by the regular unemployment program and with a percentage of 70% of their salary.
Moreover, according to ΗΑΤΤΑ, the tourist offices and travel agencies are the only enterprises of the tourist sector that maintain their staff during the twelve months of the year with an enormous cost during the "dead" months.

CLUB MED ΤΟ INVEST 88 MILLION EUROS ΙΝ ZAKYNTHOS
The Vice-President of Club Mediterranee Mr. Bertrand Julien Laperriere announced to the President of G.Ν.Τ.Ο. Mr. John Patellis that until 2004 Club Mediterranee will make investments in Greece of about 88 million Euros, from which 40 million concern the building of a hotel in Zakynthos.
Mr. Laperriere also mentioned that this year the bookings in the company whose destination is Greece, are high and are expected to increase in comparison to last year.
The Ambassador of Cuba in Athens Mr. Gorhe Quesada expressed his wish for a tourist co-operation with Greece.

PIRAEUS COURT ROLING FOR HFD
The court of Piraeus rejected the law suit of the company, ex ship-owner of the ship POSIDON Express ΙΙ, by which it obliged Hellas Flying Dolphins to pay 1.700.000 drachmas, which was included in the capital increase in 1999. According to the agreement which had been made, Hellas Flying Dolphins had promised that if it didn't attain the price of 3.000 drachmas on the first day of negotiation in the stock market, it would pay up for the difference. Because this didn't happen the suing company claimed the total amount of 570.000 shares at 3.000 GRD per share.
The court decided that these agreements are totally invalid and illegal according to the provision of article 23rd paragraph 1, Section Β of the law 2190/20.

HFD FIRST AID TRAINING
Hellas Flying Dolphins starts a program of first-aid training seminars in co-operation with the Greek Red Cross.
Hellas Flying Dolphins in co-operation with the Greek Red Cross started a training program regarding first-aid.
All crew members will be trained by specialized staff of the Greek Red Cross. This will be conducted in three phases, each phase consisting of 3hour training. The crew members of the Highspeed, Flyincat and Dolphins will be the first to start training and following will be the crew of the other ships of the company based on a predetermined plan.
All trainees will aquire basic knowledge of first aid needed to be applied in the case of emergency situations during the trips of the ships.
The programs aim is to re-enforce the sense of security of the passengers travelling with the company.

GOLDAIR HANDLING OFFER SERVICES ΑΤ THESSALONIKI AIRPORT
Goldair Handling is the first company which has been licensed by the Ministry of Transport and Communication to offer complete land services (handling) at the Macedonia Airport of Salonica.
Goldair Handling has been operating at Athens Airport since March 1998 and at the Heraklion Airport since January 2001. Goldair Handling begins soon its new activities at the Macedonia Airport of Salonica in the sector of servicing aircrafts in the airport and handling of luggage , starting with Malev-Hungarian airlines, Lot-Polish airlines, Aeroflot, Air Moldova, Turkish airlines, Veravia, KMV airlines, etc.
Up to present Goldair Handling's investment amount to 33 million Euros (11,5 billion drachmas).
Its staff exceeds 650 persons, covering the needs of the airport of Athens, Heraklion and Salonica.
The major shareholders of Goldair Handling are: Goldair managed by Stelios Golemis, Aegean Airlines of Th. Vasilakis Group, Alpha Ventures subsidiary of Alpha Bank Group, Globeground subsidiary of Lufthansa and the Fraport owner and managing company of the Frankfurt airport.

INVESTMENT INTEREST FROM AMERICANS
The American Ambassador in Athens, Mr. Thomas Miller expressed to the assistant Minster of Development Mr. Dimitris Georgakopoulos the vivid interest of the American businessmen in investments in Greece in the tourist sector.
Mr. Miller was informed about the program of privatization in Greece.
At the meeting, where subjects concerning the tourist co-operation of the two countries were discussed, Mr. Georgakopoulos expressed the great interest of Greece in the American tourist market and talked about the organized effort of the Ministry of Development to promote Greece in U.S.Α.

GREECE IS ΤΗΕ SAFEST PLACE ΤΟ VISIT
Mr Ranny Rad, advertising manager of CNN in Europe stated on SKY FM : "our target is to send a clear message to our audience that Greece is the safest place to visit and is ready to hold the 2004 Olympics".
G.Ν.Τ.Ο. co-operates with CNN by sponsoring the weather forecast for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. For four months 30-second advertisements, promoting the tourist attractions of our country will be shown to 109 million households.

SPAINISH TOURISTS SEE GREECE AS ΑΝ INTERESTING DESTINATION
The assistant Minister of Development Mr. Dimitris Georgakopoulos and General Secretary Mr. Dimitris Georgarakis who met with higher officials and representatives of tourism in Spain, believe that the Spanish consider Greece to be an interesting tourist destination. Thus, in their opinion, in 2002 the number of tourists coming to Greece is expected to increase.
The two representatives of Greek tourism had two significant meetings and discussions which were the following:
1) Α meeting with Mr. Enzo Furnari, the president of the union of tourist agents of Latin America (Colat) with whom they discussed the prospects of Greece to enter the holiday "packets" of the Latin Americans and the reinforcing of their participation in cruises.
Also they decided on a co-operation of COTAL with the offices of G.Ν.Τ.Ο. in Spain, Italy and U.S.Α. in order to promote Greece in the Latin American countries.
2) The discussions with representatives of one of the biggest Tour Operators in Spain, IBEROJET which has 300 offices and owns an airline and four hotels in Greece.
IBEROJET announced to the assistant Minister of development Mr. Georgakopoulos that they will increase its chartered flights to Greece.

CHOSEN BY THE GODS
Since September 11, the entire travel and tourism industry, has been screaming, mooning, pounding and anything else which could catch the attention of the state. In the meanwhile, revenues decreased, employees have been laid off, and some companies couldn't take the blow and went under. The state has been acting as if it didn't have ears to hear or eyes to see ... and why should they. What could the travel and tourism industry do that could force the state to take immediate action based to the short term action plans the industry has been proposing? Between us, nothing.
Which brings us to the major deduction. Although the travel and tourism industry for years has been silently bringing valuable fresh money into the country, contributing to the gross national product with a significant percentage, larger than any other industry, it stands out in the cold against anything and every thing. This time it was terrorism, tomorrow what?
The solution is a strategic plan which will take into consideration unknown factors such as terrorism, political instability, economical recessions, new technology, etc. which may be generated internally or imported. Α hell of a job, but if the industry wants to survive then they have to adapt. The travel industry must learn new traits and techniques. Easier said than done, but dear friends if we want to continue to involve ourselves in this industry we must conform.
While all of this is happening, the travel trade exhibitions have started and the messages we are receiving are positive for Greece. Austrians, Germans, British...the whole lot...even Chinese will be coming to Greece. It seems that we are "Chosen by the Gods".
Wake up people...reach out and grab the opportunities and make the best of them. The state is throughing money at promoting Greece. No matter how it does it, it's better than nothing at all. What happened is gone and over. The future is there to take or even to form.
We would like to have 22 million tourists per year and we could have them if we had a longer season and many other ifs but we don't have them and normally our rate of increase is between 2 to 5 percent. So, we either have to live with it or do some thing to change it if we believe we deserve more...and what we have to definitely do, if we want more tourist, is to make the potential tourists believe that they have to come to Greece, for one reason or the other.


Hellenic Travelling