July 2002

It Is Wakeup Time!!!!!!
Tourism has become the world's leading and largest industry. It has become an essential for national economies. But there are some exceptions to this constantly rising tide. Unfortunately Greece is one leader in the field of exceptions. Tourism to Greece can best be described as 'stable.' Meaning little or no growth, in both numbers of arrivals and revenue.
There has been much talk and talk and talk, but very little action, and not many specific proposals. Sadly, this is especially true for the government, on which many depend for guidance and leadership. In addition to the lack of any workable program, especially one which projects at least a decade ahead, many efforts have been misguided. Examples of this are the budgets for promotion of tourism. Too often promotion is started far too late in the season, and very often in the wrong place, and not enough. This is better known as the program of "too late, with too little."
Recently local television has been promoting tourism to Greece. Many view this 'promotion' as benefiting TV station owners rather than tourism. Let's face it, promoting Greeks in Greece to travel in Greece is as silly as you can get.
But there may be a ray of hope!
The private sector, perhaps more concerned with survival than the public sector, has come up with concrete proposals. This is personified by SETE, the association of the travel trade, which has come up with a strategy through the year 2010---when it projects it is possible for incoming tourism to Greece to reach well over 19 million people, and revenue to exceed US$15 billion.
The SETE program advocates promoting an average stay of ten days; concentration on 'quality' tourism, to raise the average expenditure from the present $737 per tourist to $773. Essential for this would be the following:
*the creation of some 128,000 new "qualitative" hotel rooms by the year 2010.
*development of special interest tourism
*extending the season
*creation of 46 golf courses
*creation of 15 new conference centers
*creation of 24 thalassa therapy centers
*creation of 42 marinas
Add to this imagination in promotion---make it not only telling but fascinating, so people talk about it. The best promotion is still the word of mouth.
It is wakeup time for tourism to Greece!

NEW AIRLINE FOR GREECE
Hellenic Star Airways was launched this past June, initially to operate on domestic routings. Utilizing three aircraft (SAAB 340Β turboprop and Bombarbier DHC-7, with 36 and 48 seat capacity respectively), the company links Athens with the islands of Lemnos, Chios, Samos, Mykonos, Santorini, Naxos, Paros and Syros. From Thessaloniki Star has flights to Lemnos and Mytilini.
The company also expects to operate special charter flights within Greece, and possibly to Cyprus.
Additional aircraft and routings are anticipated.

TWO NEW SUPERFAST FERRIES
Attica Enterprises S.Α. has announced the delivery of the ultramodern passenger-car ferry Superfast Χ1 built at Flender Werft AG in Lubeck, Germany. Α second vessel, Superfast Χ11, is scheduled to be delivered later this year.
Both new ships are to be deployed in the Adriatic Sea between the ports of Patras, Igoumenitsa and Ancona, and will supplement present service of Superfast 1 and 11, which sail between Patras, Igoumenitsa and Bari, as well as Superfast V and VI on Patras-Ancona service.
Each of the new vessels has a passenger capacity of 1,550, and garage deck space for 130 trucks plus 100 private vehicles. They both operate at a speed of 30 knots.
Facilities aboard include ala carte and buffet restaurants, casino, video games room, shops and boutiques, Business Center and conference rooms, children's playroom, satellite television and Internet facilities.
Superfast Ferries is a leading European ferry operator, active in six countries of the EU, linking Greece and Italy, Germany and Finland, Scotland and Belgium.
The subsidiary Blue Star Ferries operates Piraeus-Paros-Naxos-Santorini,and Piraeus-Samos-Kos-Rhodes routes.

ROYAL OLYMPIC CRUISES ANNOUNCES SERIES OF SPECIAL WINTER CRUISES
Royal Olympic Cruises announces special winter cruises with the Olympia Countess from Venice.
Initial departure is November 5 on a 25-day sailing from Venice crossing the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean to Durban, followed by a 7-day Solar Eclipse cruise. After these, a series of cruises in the Indian Ocean have been scheduled, to be followed by a 22-day Durban-Piraeus cruise.
Rates for these various sailings are available by e-mail at edimas@roc.gr..

ΗΝΤΟ MAKES INTENSE INSPECTIONS OF TOURIST OFFERINGS
On the order of ΗΝΤΟ president Yianni Patelli tourist offerings in Greece underwent intense inspections. Specifically inspections of 33 hotels, 37 food-entertainment areas, 233 room rentals, and 141 zones of tourist traffic (including 41 ports, 17 airports, 9 border stations, 12 railway stations, 30 intercity bus stations, 15 archeological sites and museums, 15 public parks and squares) were undertaken.
In these it was determined that 31 hotels had satisfactory levels while two were recommended to improve, 173 rented rooms were found satisfactory while 60 were reprimanded subject to another inspection.
There were also inspections of 309 restaurants throughout the country. In these 20 lawsuits were filed.
Further inspections were made of 475 hotels, with 381 found to be satisfactory. And, 156 restaurants were inspected.

OLYMPIC HOTELS OF ATHENS CENTERED FOR TOURISM
The Olympic Hotels of Athens are ideally situated for tourists who wish to perambulate about Athens archeological sites and sights. Hotelier Saki Papadimitriou keeps his two hotels---the Royal Olympic and the Olympic Palace up to date, and with friendly staffs. He is usually present at one of the two hotels as he has been for the past 43 years since he opened the Royal Olympic in 1968.
The Royal Olympic is located very close to the Temple of Zeus, and a gentle walk to the Acropolis and Plaka, the old sector and market of the city. There are 310 rooms, with many overlooking the nearby ancient sites. The smaller Olympic Palace, comprised of 90 rooms, is near Syntagma or Constitution Square, the commercial center of the city.
Papadimitriou has been active in various activities. He participated in car rallies for many years, and served as president of the SKAL Club of Athens for 20 years.

VERNICOS CREATES NEW WEBSITE
Vernicos Yachts has created a new website offering possibility to easily and quickly plan boat holidays. One thousand boats are presented for rental or sale, offering the visitors the opportunity to confirm holiday via online. Special offers are included. The websites also provides reliable weather forecasts through the Poseidon system.
At a general assembly of stockowners of Vernicos Yachts, president Giorgos Vernicos stated that the year 2001 was critical, and the year seemed to be a very good one.

10PLUS OFFERS ELECTRONIC NETWORK FOR TRAVEL
10Plus, the new travel cooperative in Greece, offers complete travel programs in the Greek market on its new website. Full service of travel possibilities in Greece is provided by www.10plus.gr. The notion of 10Plus is to provide a one stop shop for Greece.
The members of 10Plus are Air Miles, APG Hellas, Discover the World Marketing, Exotica a la Carte, Goldair, Hydra Travel, Intermodal Air, Navigator, Nordic Exports, Thea Travel, and Wayfare Aviations Services.

BLUE STAR FERRIES OPERATES FROM PIRAEUS ΤΟ SAMOS, KOS AND RHODES
Blue Star Ferries has requested permission from the Ministry of Merchant Marine permission to operates a route, Piraeus to Samos, Kos and Rhodes.
Vessel to be utilized is the Blue Star 1, a newly-built luxury ship, with a speed of 28 knots. It can accommodate 1,600 passengers plus 700 private cars, or 150 trucks and 100 private cars. It offers an ala carte restaurant, night club, shops and swimming pool.

DATA ΟΝ TOURIST ARRIVALS ΑΤ AIRPORTS
Data on tourist arrivals at airports in Greece show a mixed picture for the month of June. There were increases in arrivals on the islands of Rhodes and Cephalonia and decreases on Crete, Santorini and Mytilini.
Arrivals in Rhodes were 218,500 as against 217,726 in June 2001. In Cephalonia there were 34,764 compared with 30,243 arrivals of last year.
At Heraklion on Crete there were 311,717 this June compared with 326,675 in 2001; for Santorini, 48,966 compared with 55,421, and in Mytilini, 13,764 and 14,986.
It was noted that airport tourist arrivals may be down somewhat due to the extended operation of high-speed ferryboat (hydrofoil) links.

AKS HOTELS ΤΑΚΕ INITIATIVE ΤΟ PREVENT LEGIONELLAS
AKS Hotels has taken the initiative to protect its guests from the sickness of legionellas, which grows in circuits producing warm water. This is part of a paneuropean scientific research supported by the European Union and middle-sized businesses. Specifically the AKS Minoa Palace, the four star hotel in Crete, is the only hotel in Europe participating in the European Research Program CRAFT.
The aim of the CRAFT program is to develop new, innovative methods to deal with legionellas in hospitals and hotels.
Within framework of collaboration AKS is one of the few hotel chains that already has a full and scientifically perfect program monitoring the quality of water with frequent chemical and microbiological analyses and systematic and preventive measures for microbiological protection.
Also, AKS hotels has begun a series of substantial investments at all four hotels in the chain to ensure the best quality of water. They are equipped with central desalination units.

RENOVATE MOUNT LYCABETTUS FACILITIES
The tourist facilities on Mount Lycabettus, the prominent hill in central Athens, have undergone a complete renovation. This includes reopening of a practically all-new telepherric (or cable car), which now has waiting areas and new wagons.
Α new Mediterranean-cuisine restaurant-cafe has been opened at the top of the hill, with a capacity of 200,
The renovations cost an estimated three million euros.

AMADEUS UPGRADES TICKETING TECHNOLOGY ΙΝ GREECE
Amadeus Hellas S.Α. is launching the latest high fidelity ticketing technology ΑΤΒ2 into the Greek travel market.
Attributes of the technology of ΑΤΒ2 are as follows: common ticket stock for domestic and international routes; total safety in ticket issuance, due to the ticket bar code; high quality printing, and satellite ticketing between ΙΑΤΑ agencies and corporations, offered through Internet.
The new program is with the approval of ΙΑΤΑ.

SETE CITES REASONS FOR TOURIST DIP
The Union of Greek Tourist Enterprises (SETE) envisions an overall drop of three percent in tourism for Greece this year, while for the first five months it was down by eight percent. Main decrease is due to the major tour operators, according to SETE, and the union suggests that in the future smaller markets would be more advisable than major ones.
Three reasons cited for the decrease of tourism to Greece are financial problems in the country of tourists' origin, fear of air travel, and that El Venizelos International Airport of Athens is one of the most expensive in the world.
On the bright horizon for tourism to Greece SETE, on the basis of research, claims that Greece should aim at 19.4 million arrivals by 2010 and revenue of $15billion. This would mean Greece would raise its share for Europe from three percent to 3.68 percent, and in the world market from 1.87 percent to 1.92 percent.

AMPHITRION ORGANIZING ΑΗΕΡΑ CONFERENCE
The Amphitrion Group has been chosen to undertake the organization of the 81st conference of ΑΗΕΡΑ in 2003 in Athens. Some 4,000 delegates are expected to travel to the Greek capital for this meeting, according to Andrew Banis, president of ΑΗΕΡΑ.
This is the first time in 31 years that ΑΗΕΡΑ will be meeting in Athens.
ΑΗΕΡΑ is the leading organization of Greek immigrants abroad, particularly in the U.S.Α., with a program of the promotion of Greece, education and charity. It has branches in Canada and Australia.

BRITISH AIRWAYS INSTALLS SURFING
British Airways is installing surfing possibilities for passengers, enabling them to send and receive e-mail during flights.
The airline, which was the first to install flat beds in First and Business Class now is operating a three-month experimental installation, called Connexion System.
According to a recent survey some 75 percent of passengers travelling for business use laptops during flights, and are interested to be linked to Internet and e-mail services.

NEW COUNCIL FOR HOTEL MANAGERS
The Union of Hotel Managers of Athens has announced a new executive council.
Organized in 1998, the Union has some 50 members representing all categories of hotel in the Athens area.
President: Yiannis Simos, Park Hotel
Vice President: Giorgos Filis, St. George Lycabettus
General Secretary: Nicos Houliaras, Best Western Coral
Treasurer: Dimitris Kakaris, Grecotel Omonia Grand
Public Relations: Giorgos Kanonis, Metropolitan Hotel

STELLAR PROGRAM FOR ATHENS FESTIVAL
The Athens Festival, the annual presentation of outstanding international and Greek entertainment presented in the Herod Atticus theatre, the 1,800 year-old open air marble theatre at the foot of the Acropolis, has a program this year that is outstanding.
Included are such as Euripides' "Medea" as staged by the Spanish troupe Rosa de Otonoa and the Bolshoi Ballet with exciting dance versions of "Spartacus" and "Giselle."
Other presentations include the staging of Aristophanes' satire "Lysistrata," and the Greek National Ballet's version of Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty"
Symphony orchestras include The National Traditional Orchestra of China, the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir, the European Union Youth Orchestra and the Athens States Orchestra.
Other troupes include The Harlem Gospel Singers, and performances of Leonard Bernstein's "West Side Story" by the Linz State Theatre.
Among special events scheduled this year is an appearance by Sir Peter Ustinov, in a soliloquy called "Creations of Prometheus," with said soliloquy written by the distinguished actor. The monologue is accompanied by music by Beethoven. The performance is being staged in aid of UNESCO, of which Ustinov is a goodwill ambassador.
The Athens Festival has scheduled performances from the beginning of June through the end of September.

SPECTACULAR PROFITS FOR ΤΗΑΙ
The financial results of Thai International Pcl for the second quarter of this year were positive, whereas the profits were spectacular for the first quarter despite the problems which the international airline is encountering following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Specifically, the second quarter of the year, the company had 32.875 mil. Bat operating revenues and the operating profits increased by 1.370 mil. Bat (+26%) versus last year. The gross profits amounted to 4.724 mil. Bat which represents a 498.6% increase.
In the first six month period of the fiscal year (October 2001-March 2002) the total operating revenues reached 63.120 Mil. Bat. In comparison to last year this had a reduction of 2.037 Mil. Bat representing a 3.13% reduction. Despite the crisis the airline industry is going through, Thai recorded net profits of 5.774 mil. Bat, increased by 6.709 mil. Bat representing 43%.
The net profit per share was 4.12 Bat in contrast to last year’s losses of 0.67 Bat.
It is worth noting that ΤΗΑΙ Airways since its establishment, 42 years ago, through the present record profits have been recorded in every fiscal year.

ΚΜ TRAVEL ΟΝΕ OF ΤΗΕ MORE ACTIVE AGENCIES ΙΝ CONGRESSES AND SHOWS
ΚΜ Travel is one of the more active agencies in Greece for organizing congresses and exhibitions. The agency is personified by its founder Thanos Marinos. Born in Istanbul, Marinos migrated to Greece at the age of 14. Attending night school he worked for Triaena for a decade before opening ΚΜ in 1974. He has become involved with incoming tourism, business travel, conferences and exhibitions, and Defendory International.
ΚΜ has become identified with organizing conferences, having acquired an impressive listing of major international companies as its clients, including such as Kodak, Bosch & Siemens, BBDO, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb and the Walt Disney Company.
ΚΜ has also become the organizer of Defendory International, the second largest exhibition staged in the port of Piraeus, with some 70 countries participating. And, a host of ministers attending as visitors, as well as the heads of armed forces.
Another recent impressive conference was that of SUN Microsystems held on the island of Crete, with some 1,400 delegates from around the world attending. ΚΜ organized all aspects, from chartered flights to musical events and even a fireworks show.
Recently Marinos appointed a new marketing manager, Kostas Savrou, to help with the increasing flow of business, and work in conjunction with Yiannis Liolies and Panagiotis Skordos the two sales managers of ΚΜ, respectively for incoming and outgoing clients.
Marinos is also active in creating cooperative spirit within the travel trade of Greece.
He has been elected president of the newly-formed company, Hellenic Travel Force, which is a consortium of over one hundred travel agencies.

GREECE HAS LOW STANDING ΙΝ HOSTING CONFERENCES
In a recent study it was found that Greece has been hosting some one to two percent of conferences being held in Europe, as recorded by ICCA, the international meetings association.
Of those held in Greece some 40 percent were staged in Athens, while Crete, the Dodecanese (primarily the islands of Rhodes and Kos ) and Macedonia hosted the balance. Average stay for attendees at a conference is between four and five days. Prime period for conferences held in Greece, some 40 percent, is during the months of April-May-June.
Overall internationally conference tourism accounts for some four percent of international arrivals. It has also been determined that the average conference visitor expenditures can be double the average tourist.

BRITISH PRESS HAS FALSE REPORTS
Investigation of some isolated reports in the British press of "efforts of rape of tourists" in Faliraki on the island of Rhodes has shown such to be exaggerated and out of the realm of reality.
Basis of such reports is trouble caused by young British visitors who get drunk and get rowdy (as has been reported widely at football matches.) There have been similar reports of rowdy drunken British in Spain and Turkey.
More than 460,000 British visit Rhodes every year, and hundreds of thousands of other nationalities with no problems.
The numbers of British visitors to Greece has been increasing during the last five years and is rising further this year as well, while other destinations are experiencing a drop in arrivals. This rivalry is blamed for the false reports in the British press.

FOSSIL TREES FROM LESVOS SEA
Α major undertaking of bringing dozens of fossil tree trunks submerged in the sea around the northwestern coast of the island of Lesvos has been announced.
There is a petrified a forest on the island, which is the island's top tourist sight. The tree trunks from the sea are to be put on display in the Petrified Forest Museum on the island.
The petrified forest and the newly discovered undersea tree trunks are said to date back some 30 million years.

OLYMPIC GAMES ROOM RENTALS
Three groupings from the travel trade of Greece have been formed to specifically supervise rental of rooms for the Olympic Games of 2004 being held in Athens,
These are a combine of ALTIS and Epathlon (both consortiums of agencies), the Hellenic Travel Force of some 100 agencies, and Travel Plan partnered with Plotin Travel.
Interest in participation of supervising accommodations is high with some 50 different parties showing interest.

MALEV AIRLINES HOTEL PROMOTION
In a new promotion tie-up Malev Hungarian Airlines and the Danubius Hotel chain (of Hungary) offer Business Class passengers to Budapest a complimentary night's lodging at a choice of six hotels.
This so-called Malev Danubius Sky Nights program is operated by Malev Air Tours.

ASTA-HELLAS CELEBRATES 4ΤΗ OF JULY
ASTA-Hellas organized a celebration of the 226th anniversary of Independence Day of the U.S.Α. aboard the Hermes, with a cruise to the island of Aegina (on the 15th of July.) The U.S. Embassy was represented by Walter Hage, counselor for commercial affairs.
Entertainment included John Modenos, the internationally famed opera singer.
Α special award was made to Andreas Potamianos, of Royal Olympic Cruises and Epirotiki-Hydriaki, in honor of his 50 years in cruising and tourism.

From My Notebook - By Connie Soloyanis
Tourism is down just about everywhere. Cyprus reportedly is down 21 percent, Turkey 20 percent, Florida in the U.S. down 42 percent. Only general increases are in the Caribbean, which has gained favour at the expense of European traffic from the U.S.Α. Optimism has been expressed for tourism to Turkey due to the good showing of Turkey in the World Cup games.
In expert analysis Greece's major tourism deficiency is its seasonal character, with over 50 percent of its arrivals being scheduled for the July-September period.
Higher tourists spending have been offsetting the drop in tourist numbers visiting Cyprus.
Alas and alack, the topless fad on Greek beaches once rather magnificently rampant has practically disappeared.
As exciting as the World Cup matches may have been they resulted in less travelling (especially from the U.Κ.) because most people opted to watch the matches at home or at their favourite neighbourhood pub.
Cunard has scheduled the new 550 million pound Queen Mary 11's maiden voyage for January 12, 2004---sailing from Southampton to New York.
Literally tons of sharp, potentially lethal objects are being confiscated at London's Heathrow Airport. Collected items are melted down into nail scissors and clippers.
Α recent survey affirms that holidays booked through travel agents are usually longer than those booked directly by the holiday-maker. And, people booking through agents spend more.
The greater majority of aircraft utilized by regularly scheduled airlines are leased from holding companies. An estimated 90 percent.
In the U.S.Α. over ninety percent of travel agents now charge fees for services, to compensate for disappearing airline sales commissions.
ΗΑΤΤΑ, the association of travel agencies in Greece, has recommended to its member agencies to install sales charges for individuals.
Some 360 Greek turtles are being flown home (from Hungary) to their original habitat in the Greek Macedonian border region. This army of turtles had been taken to Hungary by smugglers.
In case you wondered, the well-known black taxicabs of London celebrate their 100th birthday this year.
The biggest aquatic park in central Europe has been opened in landlocked Hungary, near the fresh water Lake Balaton. It features 18 types of water slides and can accommodate up to 4,500 people.
Close to half of all Americans taking a holiday this year are spending the major part of their holiday period visiting with friends or relatives.
Ever prideful, the Athens Olympics 2004 has announced that it has utilized more than 30 tons of recycled paper, which supposedly means that 51l fewer trees were cut down, 945,000 fewer litters of water consumed and 123,000 fewer kilowatts were utilized.
Travel brochures can be confusing in descriptions of hotels. The following is a simple explanation of various descriptions:
"Luxury"---means expensive
"Exclusive"---expensive and smaller
"Deluxe"---extremely expensive and huge
"Elegant"---50 years old
"Up-to-date"---20 years old
"Modern"---unfinished
"Medium category"---dump
"Charming"---rundown
"Warmly, relaxed hospitality"---means the staff drinks
Those that advertise "an unforgettable experience" are telling the truth.