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Tue, Feb 07 2012
Tourism chiefs: Greece still offers wonderful holidays and will ride out crisis
Leonidas Efthymiou, (left) head of the Greek National Tourism Organisation, and Ioannis Zikos, the organisation's executive secretary
Photo: Gabriel Hershman
Leonidas Efthymiou, head of the Greek National Tourism Organisation, and Ioannis Zikos, the organisation's executive secretary, hosted an event and presentation entitled "You in Greece" to promote tourism in Greece at Sofia's Flocafe on July 29.
Efthymoiu said that recent negative publicity about the situation in Greece was exaggerated and that travellers to the country still came away with reports of excellent service and friendly people. The hosts reminded assembled guests that, according to a recent research conducted by Kapa Focus research company, more than 55 per cent of Greeks support the austerity measures imposed by the Greek government.
"Everyone knows about the publicity and the articles of recent months in the international media. This has created the image of an unreliable Greece. In our opinion this has been overblown. And during this period we are not alone; we belong to the big family of the EU which means we have many friends and allies."
Guests were shown a video in which visitors to Athens in May 2010 gave first-hand accounts of their interesting and happy holidays.
Both hosts said that Greece had weathered hard times in the past but that their countrymen were resilient in the face of crisis. Zikos said that the current strikes affecting Greece were public-sector strikes and usually of short duration. He said that everyone in the private sector was working extremely hard to promote a positive image of the country and ensure that visitors still enjoyed wonderful holidays.
He also reported that hotels in traditional resorts such as Halkidiki were enjoying a good season and that guests were able to exploit some remarkably cheap holiday offers.
According to a poll conducted among 1200 people, 52 per cent believed that the quality of travel services offered in Greece are of a very good standard and 42 per cent believed that the travel services offered in Greece rival those offered in other developed tourist markets.
A slide-show was also shown to guests depicting images of beautiful Greek resorts and islands.
Efthymoiu said that recent negative publicity about the situation in Greece was exaggerated and that travellers to the country still came away with reports of excellent service and friendly people. The hosts reminded assembled guests that, according to a recent research conducted by Kapa Focus research company, more than 55 per cent of Greeks support the austerity measures imposed by the Greek government.
"Everyone knows about the publicity and the articles of recent months in the international media. This has created the image of an unreliable Greece. In our opinion this has been overblown. And during this period we are not alone; we belong to the big family of the EU which means we have many friends and allies."
Guests were shown a video in which visitors to Athens in May 2010 gave first-hand accounts of their interesting and happy holidays.
Both hosts said that Greece had weathered hard times in the past but that their countrymen were resilient in the face of crisis. Zikos said that the current strikes affecting Greece were public-sector strikes and usually of short duration. He said that everyone in the private sector was working extremely hard to promote a positive image of the country and ensure that visitors still enjoyed wonderful holidays.
He also reported that hotels in traditional resorts such as Halkidiki were enjoying a good season and that guests were able to exploit some remarkably cheap holiday offers.
According to a poll conducted among 1200 people, 52 per cent believed that the quality of travel services offered in Greece are of a very good standard and 42 per cent believed that the travel services offered in Greece rival those offered in other developed tourist markets.
A slide-show was also shown to guests depicting images of beautiful Greek resorts and islands.
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Sasha you spelt travelled wrong!
Like anywhere else, there are good and bad aspects to Greek tourism, though current industrial unrest there certainly does not help. My suspicion is that the tourist experience in islands such as Rhodos and Kephallonia might me better than in mainland Greece, and I did promise earlier that I would never mention the dire conditions at Volos "airport" (= military base with civilian airstrip attached, with only extremely basic facilities) ever again.... So I haven't mentioned it, have I ?
Just got back from Greece. Stayed mostly in Macedonia with family but also traveled to islands, and was beautiful. Yes the country is in trouble but like every economy it will find its way back regardless of the times. The Greek people are right to protest and though tourism is being affected it is only slightly so. Those who go to Greece on holidays in the middle of such a chaotic environment only do so because they love the people and the country. Good luck!
Cosmos
That's beter my good man, it's all about disinformation some wannabe democrats were spreading at the time mutatis mutandiis.
do you copy.
Aries thanks for details but I do not understand what corpses in the streets of Athens has to do with it.
look forward to reply.
In this Globalized mercantilist
s*** what can we expect
Cosmos.
My good man if you want to play dumb your cup of tea.
From Ireland through the UK (devaluation down to 1/1.1 from the initial over 1/1.89) Italy Spain down to the antipodes the Aussies are in the asame s...t
due to over spending and/or bad fiscal policies .Payback is a must
causing austerity measures that are unpopular though essential
causing riots. No big deal about 20% Spain is down 30%, Europeans are short of Cash (cancel their reservations) maybe
not the Germans, to a lesser extent [...]
Read the full comment the French.
Hope I've made myself clear .
Aries I have no idea what you are talking about,but what I do know is that bookings are down at least 20%,you must be an old guy with a bit of history please explain yourself properly on this issue.
It will be a long time before people forget the riots that are going on and the damage that it is creating for the greek people. The country lived beyond its means and now its payback time.
Cosmos
You remind me of some wannabe democrats who during the The Colonels Regime where reporting
(cross their hearts that one couldn't walk but on top
of corpses in the streets of Athens.
I myself have just returned from Greece and what was happening didnt affect me as much, travelled around Greece going to area like Thessally, Epirus, Macedonia, etc, to me Greece was still a great holiday. The measures that the Greeks are going through will soon pass.
If you are going to travel to Greece, all I can say is plan ahead, know where you want to go and keep an eye on the news for updates and the most important thing is to enjoy your holidays.
Who wants to go to greece with the way things are bookings are down.With riots , bank staff getting murdered, no petrol tourists getting stranded do you think we are mad.
Going to Greece this sunmmer is to risk a re-rerun of the movie "The Out of Towners" in which if anything possibly can go wrong it will.I was stranded there my self quite some time ago as my husband and I struggled to get out of the place. My other memories though are happy ones, but I'll wait to repeat them until Zorba and his cronies have their act together.
very interesting. why is it that currently tourists are stranded in Greece because of strikes. No gas is available to operate cars...
there will be a very long and painful way to recovery for the Greek public..