GREECE: Launches "So Different Greece" A Four-season Destination

In efforts to develop a bilateral cooperation in tourism, representatives of nine Greek and 30 Russian regions recently gathered in Moscow to present their countries’ tourism offerings, as part of the Greece – Russia Year of Tourism 2017-2018.

During a tourism forum titled, So Different Greece, Greek and Russian officials discussed ways of increasing tourism flows between the two countries.

The forum is providing us with a significant opportunity to get to know each other, learn more on our abilities and dynamics and to see how we can cooperate, said Angeliki Chondromatidou, vice president of the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO).

Moreover, Thessaly governor and president of the Union of Greek Regions ENPE Kostas Agorastos referred to the potential of promoting tourism exchanges between the two countries and spoke of the region’s advantages as a four-season destination.

We can further strengthen our ties and find new ways, new fields to better develop our relations and discuss on new activities, collaborations and business ideas, which could take us on a higher level, Agorastos said.

Vice governor of tourism for the Region of South Aegean Marietta Papavasileiou also presented the thematic tourism products offered by destinations in the Aegean, including pilgrimage tourism, gastronomy tourism, cultural and sports tourism.

There is a lot more to discover in the Dodecanese and the Cyclades than just their remarkable locations and stunning beaches. A wide range of experiences awaits our guests, Papavasileiou said.

Furthermore, Central Macedonia vice governor for tourism and culture Alexandros Thanos, held a number of events and B2B meetings with Russian tourism and regional authorities, and private sector representatives.

Through the meetings Thanos aimed to promote the tourism product of Central Macedonia and specifically the special forms of travel offered such as hiking, pilgrimage tourism, archaeological tourism, culinary tourism, cultural tourism and spa tourism.

The Greece-Russia Year of Tourism 2017-2018 was inaugurated in September 2017 and this year will include dozens of events, happenings and activities scheduled to take place in Greece and Russia.



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GREECE: Greek Police Launch “Stay safe in the city of Athens” Awareness Campaign

The Attica General Police Directorate has launched an awareness campaign for tourists visiting Athens, as part of the upgrading of its services for the safe stay of those visiting the Greek capital.

Through the campaign “Stay safe in the city of Athens”, a special pavilion on Thursday was set up near the archaeological site of the Acropolis, through which tourists and visitors can obtain a brochure in English that contains useful information and instructions for a safe tour of the city.

This action concerns not only Athens but also the airports and tourism destinations of the country. Greece remains a safe country that tourists can visit, said the general secretary of Public Order, Dimitris Anagnostakis.

In an announcement, the head of Greek Police, Lieutenant General Konstantinos Tsouvalas, said that Athens is a beautiful and safe city and that Greece is a safe country. EL.AS (Greek police) guarantees safety and this is what we are communicating today,he said.

On his part, Alkiviadis Assimakopoulos, general police director of Attica, said that the Tourist Police Visitors Help Office has served up to 11,000 civilians so far. We have a cooperation with the city’s hotels, which also distribute our brochures, he said.



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GREECE: Athens Among 10 MICE Destinations 2017, As Luxury Tourism Grows By 10%

Athens, Greece, is included among the top 10 meeting and incentive destinations around the world, according to the 2017 Global Destination Index released recently by Global DMC Partners, the largest global network of independent Destination Management Companies (DMCs).

The data was compiled based on over 700 meeting and incentives that are operating in 2017 in over 500 destinations that Global DMC Partners represents.

Top 10 International Destinations

1 Mexico (Cabo + Riviera Maya)

2 Italy (Rome)

3 United Arab Emirates (Dubai)

4 Bahamas

5 Greece (Athens)

6 Spain (Barcelona + Madrid)

7 France (Paris)

8 Costa Rica

9 Austria (Vienna)

9 Switzerland.

Business meetings, incentive travel, conferences and conventions have a huge impact on the global economy. They help facilitate face-to-face interactions to build stronger and more profitable business relationships, and they contribute greatly to local economies and their sustainability, Global DMC Partners President Catherine Chaulet said.

Many of the 2017 destinations highlighted here have been popular for meetings and incentives for the past few years, however there are a few destinations that we are very excited to see rising in the ranks, such as Colorado, Greece (Athens), Costa Rico, Switzerland, and Cabo and Riviera Maya in Mexico, she added.

The 2017 Global Destination Index also highlights destinations that are rising in popularity based on meetings and incentives that are either booked or close to contracting within a particular destination in 2018.

Luxury tourism in Greece has increased by 10 percent while investment in the sector is also seeing growth, Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura said on Monday during a radio interview.

Speaking on the Athens News Agency’s 104.9 FM, the tourism minister said that a total of 142 applications for the licensing of new and existing four- and five-star hotels of over 300 beds, special tourism infrastructure projects and three luxury tourism resorts had been submitted to the ministry’s one-stop-shop service EFPATE in 2016.

She added that 251 proposals for hotel investments were submitted in Greece’s development bill by March.

Kountoura pointed out that Greece’s shift in attracting tourists from new markets such as China, the Middle East and India was accompanied by the strengthening of traditional markets such as Germany, England, Poland, Russia and America.

Luxury tourism grew by 10 percent, she said, adding that Greece is attracting more tourists that are spending more and choosing four- and five-star hotels.

Moreover, the minister said that thematic tourism and the shift to new markets are tools for extending Greece’s tourism season, which, last year started in April and ran until November, while the months of September, October and November were the best months of all time, with very important occupancy levels.

Minister Kountoura also focused on Northern Greece and Thessaloniki and said that they are now connected with more destinations and constantly attracting tourists.

She referred to the ministry’s actions in regards to attracting more flights through negotiations and agreements with low cost carriers, charter companies and tour operators, that lease and bring their own aircraft from the Balkans, Russia, Germany, the Netherlands and France, markets that in the past produced less demand for Northern Greece.

We made agreements for flights from England to Samos and connected Thessaloniki with direct flights, not only to capital cities, but also to other towns, she said, adding that the new international flights to Greece this year add up to some 2,000. I think these new flights will bring great growth on all levels, she said.


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GREECE: Tax Cuts To Boost Greek Tourism

Tax cuts and land-use planning are the main factors that can improve the competitiveness of Greek tourism and contribute to its steady growth, according to the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE).

In a meeting on Thursday with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras at the Maximos Mansion, a delegation from SETE, headed by its president, Yiannis Retsos, called for the VAT rates on transport, accommodation and the food sector to be adjusted to lower levels, equivalent to those of competitor countries.

In statements to the media, Retsos said that the confederation informed the Greek PM on the main issues concerning tourism.

“Taxation, especially the value-added tax (VAT) and the stayover tax on accommodation, reduce the competitiveness of our product,” he said. The VAT rate imposed on the Greek tourism sector is currently seven percent more than that in competitor countries.

Regarding the stayover tax, which is planned to be charged on Greek hotels as of January 2018, SETE underlined that its imposition for all months of the year will undermine efforts to extend the season and also negatively affect the country’s winter destinations.

SETE has proposed for the stayover tax to be imposed only during the two-month period from July to August, as it is estimated that demand will be less affected.

Moreover, the SETE delegation brought the issue of land-use planning to the attention of the Greek PM.

“There is currently no land-use plan in place… These two issues, taxation and land-use planning, are also a barrier to investment, which is needed by the country,” Retsos said.

The Greek PM was also informed about SETE’s initiative to link tourism with culture and agriculture.

Regarding the progress of this year’s tourism season, SETE informed PM Tsipras that it is showing growth so far both in arrivals and revenue.

“This year will be a good year… But the government must take advantage of this positive circumstance that exists in the sector so that what is being done today is the basis of a strategic planning for the future… The sector should be the one that the country can depend on in the future to come out of the crisis,” he said.

The South Aegean region and the island of Crete were among the 30 most popular tourism destinations in the European Union in 2015, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

The South Aegean ranked 26th and registered 23.4 million overnight stays by EU residents and non-residents in 2015, while Crete ranked 27th with 23.3 million overnight stays.

The Canary Islands in Spain topped the list with 94 million overnight stays and were followed by Île-de-France with 76.8 million and Catalonia with 75.5 million.

Among the top 30 tourist regions in 2015, six were located in Spain, France and Italy, four in Germany, two in Greece two in Austria, one in Ireland, one in the Netherlands and one in the United Kingdom (inner London).

Nearly 90% of overnight stays within the EU were spent by EU residents, while only 10 percent of overnight stays concerned non-EU residents.

The United States topped the list of EU travelers’ popular destinations outside the European Union with a share of 13.8 percent in 2015. Turkey was second with 10.4 percent and Morocco third with 4.6 percent.

Greeks mostly traveled to Albania (53.8 percent) and Turkey (9.4 percent) outside the EU.

Two tour operators and three airlines are handling the bulk of travelers interested in visiting Greece this summer, according to the Hellenic Slot Coordination Authority (HSCA).

More specifically, according to the HSCA, five airlines, namely Aegean/Olympic Air, Ryanair, easyJet, Smart Wings and Transavia, and four tour operators – TUI, Thomas Cook, Jet2.com and Mouzenidis – control more than half, or 10.5 million spots, out of a total of 20.1 million spots planned for this summer. HSCA data is collected at 23 Greek airports excluding Athens International Airport.

According to the same data, overall tourist traffic appears to be in the hands of just five “players” accounting for almost nine out of the 20 million planned spots: Aegean/Olympic Air, Ryanair and easyJet with 5 million spots, and tour operators TUI and Thomas Cook representing 3.4 million spots.

Aegean Airlines is in the lead with 3.3 million planned spots. Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair meanwhile is the champion serving the majority of international flights to 23 Greek airports (excluding Athens) for the summer, with 1.4 million planned spots.

At the same time, TUI Group has booked 1.8 million spots this summer through its own carriers: Thomson Fly, TUI fly and JetAirFly. Thomas Cook, follows holding 1.5 million spots via its airlines Thomas Cook and Condor.

Greek tour operator Mouzenidis through its carrier Ellinair has scheduled half a million spots for its mostly Russian clientele.



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GREECE: American Tourist Beaten To Death In Bar At Zakynthos Island

An American tourist was beaten to death on Friday after a fight erupted at a bar on Greek island of Zakynthos, and at least eight people have been arrested in connection with his killing, according to local police.

Bakari Henderson, a 22-year-old recent graduate of the University of Arizona, was at a bar on the Greek island of Zakynthos when a fight broke out with another group of people on Friday around 3 a.m. local time, according to police there.

The fight escalated into a brawl and Henderson was battered to death in the street, police said. Further details on the clash were not immediately clear, but police said it involved two groups of people.

Pavlos Kolokotsas, the mayor of Zakynthos, said that both groups involved had been drinking extensively.

The investigation into the incident and Henderson’s death is ongoing.

Police said that a British citizen of Serbian origin, who is temporarily employed in Greece as a bouncer, and a Greek national, who works at the bar in Zakynthos, were arrested Friday and named suspects in the beating death.

Six Serbian tourists were also arrested after being identified on surveillance footage as having taken part in the brawl, police said.

The eight arrested so far are expected to appear in court Saturday.

The University of Arizona issued a statement Friday on the news of Henderson's "untimely death."

"All of us at the University of Arizona are shocked and saddened by the loss of our recent graduate, Bakari Henderson," the university's president, Robert Robbins, said in the statement. "Our hearts and prayers are with his friends and family. I can only imagine the deep sense of loss they must be feeling at his untimely death. It is always a tragedy when a young life ends before it has really yet to begin."

An official within the U.S. State Department said that Zakynthos police had notified the U.S. embassy of the death of an American citizen there early Friday.

We are in communication with authorities and providing consular assistance to the deceased citizen’s family,the official said in a statement Saturday. We offer our sincerest condolences to family and friends, and out of respect for the family during this difficult time, we have no further comment.

Henderson's family said that a memorial service is being planned.

And below, is the Henderson family's statement:

As you can imagine, our family is devastated by the recent loss of our beloved son Bakari Jaward Henderson. He attended Anderson High School through his junior year and graduated from Hyde Park Baptist High School in 2013. Bakari attended The Eller College of Management at The University of Arizona on a full academic scholarship and graduated on May 12, 2017 with a BS in Business Finance and Entrepreneurship.

The summer after his freshman year at University of Arizona, he interned with the Texas Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Texas State Senate. Bakari was in Greece working on a photo shoot to launch his new clothing line when the unbelievable tragedy occurred.

Bakari loved spending time with family and friends, traveling, and meeting new people. He was a big thinker and enjoyed coming up with new business ventures. Bakari was an inspiration to all he met. He loved life and lived it to the fullest.

We would like to thank our family, friends and the Austin community for your prayers, love and support.



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