Greece News

Greece is the fourth most popular tourist destination in the European Union for the year 2010, according to the EU Eurobarometer poll. The most popular tourist destination in the EU is Spain, followed by Italy and France. Responding to the question "where do you intend to go for holidays in 2010," 8.3 percent said Spain, 6.1 Italy, 5.8 France and 3.9 Greece.

According to Eurobarometer, in 2010, 76 percent of Greeks intend to take holidays in stay Greece while 2 percent intend to visit Italy and Germany.

Some 80% of Europeans continue to travel for their holidays according to a new Eurobarometer survey on ‘The attitudes of Europeans towards tourism 2010’. Only 20% of over 30,000 randomly selected citizens were almost certain that they will not travel in 2010, which is significantly below the proportion of non-travellers in 2009 (33%). EU citizens increasingly prefer to spend their holidays in traditional tourist destinations (57%), while 28% would rather go “off the beaten track” to emerging destinations. Tourism is one of Europe's most important service industries, accounting for 5% of Europe's GDP and 6% of employment.

(Source: ANA MPA) Invest in Greece; Europa; Balkans.Com

Greece should focus on promoting gastronomy as an additional tourism attraction in the next five years, by investing around 400,000 in marketing actions, the country’s Federation of Tourism Enterprises (SETE) said on Tuesday.

The plan was presented during a news conference as part of a SETE initiative to upgrade the quality and enriching the country’s portfolio in tourism services and products. SETE said a precondition to promoting Greek gastronomy abroad was including gastronomy in the portfolio of Greek tourism and adopting full employment of a group of professionals in the field.

SETE also called for the transformation of Hellenic Tourism Organisation to a marketing organization for Greek tourism.

Indications about an increase this year in tourist traffic to Greece from Austria appear to be encouraging, following Greece’s successful participation in this year’s International Tourism Exhibition in Vienna. After a 4-month duration, the fair closed, having hosted some 147,000 visitors in the Austrian capital.

The large number of visitors is considered very positive, particularly in view of the ongoing repercussions of the global economic crisis and the cautious attitude taken by Austrians towards scheduling and booking their next vacations, as well as the general decline in the tourism market.

Greece will participate in the Vienna International Tourism Fair with an impressive stall of the Greek Tourism Organization (EOT) and various regional tourism organizations. The fair, which is expected to attract roughly 150,000 visitors, opens here on Thursday and will run until Sunday with the participation of hundreds of exhibitors from roughly 60 countries.

The Greek pavilion will host a number of events including meetings with reporters and tour operators, Greek music concerts, wine tasting and Greek cuisine presentations.

From its just-published "Best in Travel" guidebook for 2010, based on the opinions of the well-traveled Lonely Planet staff, Greece is included in top 10 countries for 2010.

More specifically about Greece indicated that seldom does a travel destination really deliver on the claim that there's "something for everyone," but Greece truly does. From ancient ruins to idyllic beaches to serious partying, Greece will leave you clamoring for more.