Travel

Greek Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure decided to introduce new measures to combat “ticket evasion”. Passengers returning ten cancelled tickets will be awarded with one ticket of charge. The Ministry targets to decrease the so-called ticket dodgers by 50 percent until the end of the year and so to avoid …

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 Fourty uninhabited islands are ready to be leased to local or foreign investors, for up to 50 years. Greece is under pressure to fill state registers and targets revenues of 50 billion euro until 2020.  Through the leasing of these islands that “offer good terrain, are close to the mainland …

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They say,  the seventh wave is the highest. We sit at the beach and start counting. The highest wave had just crashed at the beach. Foam and splashes. Millions of water drops. The wave is powerful. It wets our feet up to the calves. It soaks the beach towel. Even though …

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One by one the governments’ pre-elections promises vanish in the air under the sober reality of yawning state cash registers. The Value Added Tax in the restaurants and other catering businesses will be decreased from 23% down to 13% not this year but … next year. So said Greek Tourism Minister …

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What is a Greek family worth, if mom, dad and kids cannot swim in the sea? Already in the 1980’s Andreas Papandreou* launched the slogan of Greek summer identity: “Swimming for the Common People!” (Τα μπάνια του λαού). A socialist concept for summer where every Greek, especially low-income families, had the right to affordable summer …

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…Oops! It wasn’t President Vladimir Putin but Andey Kostin, powerful Russian bankier on visit to West Ploponnese, Katakolon and the Ancient Olympia. That’s what local news portal Patris News reported later in the evening. Not problem at all. The news portal  writes anyway that Kostin and his  companions are on …

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The director of comedy horror, the master of film surrealism Tim Burton chose the beautiful island of Corfu for his summer vacation. Together with his wife, famous actor Helena Bonham Carter, Burton arrived at the island’s airport over the week end and he is reportedly to stay there for a couple of …

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Workers at Athens Metro and Urban Train HSAP launch a work stoppage from 11:00 a.m. to 01:00 p.m. on July 24th 2012.  The workers protest the detention of one of their colleagues, a train driver. According to Skai TV, a man fell in the rail lines last night, the driver of the …

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Hundreds of tourists were surprised, disappointed and angry to find the gates of Acropolis shut down on Monday noon. The workers had deliberately decided to shut down the Acropolis at 02:00 pm on July 16th 2012, “due to the heat wave” invoking the protection of visitors and working staff. The decision made by …

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Anger with tour operator, airline or car rental company? Lost travel documents? Medical emergencies? Travelling with pets? Millions of travellers have thousands of questions.  The European Commission has summarized the most important guidelines and useful tips for a worry-free summer holiday. With the holiday season already starting and millions of …

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 Used public transport tickets would bring benefits to their holders. According to the “Money back” used tickets can being transformed into an “unofficial” or “alternative currency” and be redeemed with discounts from stores that participate in the innovative scheme. Greek and foreign passengers in Athens, but also airplane-, ferryboats- and train-ticket holders …

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I truly believe the appointment of Olga Kefalogianni, 37, for the post of the Tourism Ministry is a good choice. For several reasons: First and most important – she knows the issues she is going to deal with as she was responsible for Tourism within Nea Dimocratia for several years. Second: As an …

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Dozens of Danish tourists were stunned (and probably angry) to learn at the Chania airport on Friday that the airliner Cimber Sterling to take them back home had gone bankruptcy. Local news website Cretalive.gr reported that the tourists were unable to return home and that  local tour operations were doing their best to find alternatives …

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UPDATE: Two seamen unions decided on Wednesday afternoon to launch a 24-hour strike on 1. May 2012 and therefore no ship or ferry will leave the Piraeus port from Monday midnight until Tuesday midnight. The rest of Greek seamen unions will launch a work stoppage from 8:00 am to 12 …

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The Athens metro station <Syntgama> will be closed as of 5:30 pm on Friday, 6. April 2012, due to demonstrations.

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UPDATE: Talks between Greek seamen unions umbrella PNO and the Ministry of Development and Maritime ended without results and therefore the 48-hour strike scheduled for April 10th and 11th 2012 will take place. Greek seamen will launch a 48-hour strike on April 10th and 11th 2012 to protest the integration of …

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Talking about promoting tourism and being competitive… Passengers are due to pay 6% more for ferry  boats tickets and car transportation as of 1. April 2012. For a family of four that travels with car, that’s 20 euro more, considering that the kids will have reduced fares. According to news …

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“Up Greek Tourism” Advertising campaign has been launched at New York last Friday. The 2-minute animated billboard in Times Square has been made possible through contributions from Greeks around the world. The campaign aims to make Greece attractive to potential tourists form the USA. The billboard designed to  highlight Greece’s beauty was organized by volunteer …

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Greek Seamen Federation decided not to proceed to further strikes, and sea transport will resume on Wednesday, March 21st 2012, at 6 a.m, when the 48-hour strike ends. The decision was taken with a majority of nine votes during  a stormy meeting with a lot of objections. However, the seamen …

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HATTA, the Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies, in cooperation with three UK tour operators and travel agencies, those being ABTA (Travel Association), AITO (Association of Independent Tour Operators) and FTO (Federation of Tour Operators) have sent an open letter to the Greek premier, top government ministers and members …

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