Greece has a goal to extend the Greek tourism season to 12 months a year. The GTP recently reported that the Greek Ministry of Tourism is focusing on new tourism markets including China, Brazil, Canada, Korea and the Middle East.

The Greek Travel Pages (GTP) article stated that action has been taken already to stretch Greece’s tourism season. According to the Alternate Minister of Tourism Elena Kountoura, Greece’s top tour operators increased the amount of vacation days they offer to tourists from 185 days to 210 days.

Kountoura expressed her plans during an economics forum in Athens late last month. “Greece aims to be among the top five most popular countries in the world,” she said. “We want tourism 12 months a year.” The minister said that in the past one barrier to reaching Greece’s year-round tourism goals was a lack of investment.

Niches to Defy Seasonality

The longer the tourist season, the longer the window of time a country has to gain tourism revenue. School vacation periods and warm weather seasons remain to be the most popular times of the year for tourists to travel anywhere. Advocates for year-round tourism argue that if a destination was worth a visit in the summer, it would also be worth a visit come winter. There must be a decent balance.

Investments can be used to promote a destination in the traditional off-season. The development of tourism niches can entice visitors who wish to return and discover even more of Greece’s landscape and countryside in the non-summer months. Sports activities, cooking classes and special aviation tours should be promoted. Culture and health tourism packages can also be offered any time of the year. For example in France’s Les Deux Alpes, hiking is highly promoted during the summer months to balance out the extremely busy ski season. Combined with its world renowned gastronomy, Greece is a special tourist destination that is rich in archeology sights, beautiful stretches of coastline and mountainous villages that are perfect destinations for cooler months.

To read more, please visit: All About Aviation

The Hellenic Initiative (THI) supports the Greek delegation in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy in Greece.

Six Greek entrepreneurs were selected to participate in the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES), which took place from the 22nd to the 24th of June 2016 in Palo Alto, California.

As part of President Obama’s commitment to expand support for entrepreneurship and economic opportunity around the world, the GES has brought together the best innovators, thinkers, social entrepreneurs, and investors since 2010. Each GES has taken place in a different region of the world, from the United States to Sub-Saharan Africa. This year’s GES took place on the campus of Stanford University, in the heart of Silicon Valley.

The Greek entrepreneurs Participating in GES 2016

• Ioanna Fotopoulou - Project Manager, Social Impact Award 
  
  
• Zoi Giavri - CEO, Advantis Medical Imaging
  
  
• Magy Kontou - Co-founder & Head of Innovation, SimpleApps / Tourismart
  
  
• Anastasia Siapka - Co-Founder, Code it Like a Girl
  
  
• Konstantinos Synodinos - Founder, Championsid.com
  
  
• Xenia Vasiliadis - Founder, TripElina

The Greek delegation included five women, signaling the important role of women in the Greek entrepreneurship ecosystem. The U.S. Department of State and GES provided funding to the participation of these select entrepreneurs, as well as one Greek media representative, Maria Akrivou of Fortune Greece. The Hellenic Initiative (THI), an important partner of the U.S. Embassy on projects related to business development in Greece, also provided part of the costs of the Greek delegation. During the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, the Greek delegation had the opportunity to network with hundreds of their peers from all over the world and identify opportunities for collaboration and funding. 

The aim of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit is to connect entrepreneurs across the globe with the access and exchange needed to create and innovate, unleashing their power to change the world. The United States hosted the seventh Global Entrepreneurship Summit, which was previously hosted by the United States and the governments of Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Morocco, and Kenya. In bringing the Summit back to the United States, President Obama highlights his commitment to building bridges that help us tackle global challenges together.

Goals of the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit

• Showcase inspiring entrepreneurs and investors from around the world, creating new opportunities for investment, partnership, and collaboration.
  
  
• Connect American entrepreneurs and investors with their international counterparts to form lasting relationships.
  
  
• Highlight entrepreneurship as means to address some of the most intractable global challenges.

Hosting the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Silicon Valley highlights America’s entrepreneurial spirit and allows American investors and entrepreneurs to see the talent, solutions, and opportunities that exist globally. The summit included a wide range of workshops, panels, ignite talks, pitch competitions, mentoring and networking sessions. These gave participants tailored opportunities to gain skills and relationships that help their ventures grow. Within the Summit, there were also demonstration areas, experiential learning exhibitions, and opportunities to connect with industry experts.

The support for the Greek delegation is part of the efforts of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy in Athens to promote collaboration between Greek and American entrepreneurs and initiatives, especially among youth.

For more information on the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016, please visit: GES 2016

For more information about the Hellenic Initiative, please visit: THI

Winter sales will kick off in Athens and Thessaloniki on the 9th of January. Additionally, shop owners may also choose to open on the 15th of January 15th.

For stores that will open on January 15th, the proposed shopping hours are 11:00-18:00. Shops are also required to write the old and new price on all items offered and may also include the percentage of the sale. Sales will officially end on February 28th.

To read this article in full, please visit: Tornos News

Avli is one of those places you have to be introduced to by someone who’s already been there. Although a sign does exist above its narrow metal door, there’s so much graffiti on either side of it, you could walk right by even if you had the address firmly in your hand or mind. Once inside, if you’re the first customer, you still might think you’ve made a mistake.

Avli means ‘courtyard,’ but this one is narrow, much more like a back alley. Blue doors and shuttered windows the same shade as the Greek flag pierce the right wall, the left has a few potted plants and three plump alley cats comfortably ensconced on the old-fashioned rush-seated taverna chairs. A whitewashed staircase closes the space at the back, and a sheet of corrugated plexiglass offers some protection from the elements.

Funky is the word that comes to mind, an impression reinforced when you examine the faded clippings, drawings, and magazine ads hanging on the walls and pasted on the shutters (all gifts from friends), the cracked marble flagstones, the small tables with their plastic 'cloths' of different colors, stripes, checks or flowers, the somewhat bedraggled garland of garlic and chili peppers hanging from a drainpipe.

Avli

Address: Agiou Dimitriou 8
Telephone: 210 321 7642

To read this article in full, please visit: Culinary Backstreets

Athens rang in the New Year with a record-breaking Vasilopita cake weighing 2,500 kilos!

Also, find out when winter sales begin, learn about the story behind 10 of the oldest houses in Athens, where to find the best street food in the city and much more!

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Revealing Athens as one of the World’s Greatest Places 2021, Time Magazine has confirmed what most already know about the breathtaking city.

The heart of the powerful empire of Ancient Greece, Athens remains after centuries dominated by 5th-century BC landmarks, including the Acropolis, a hilltop citadel containing the remains of ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance like the Parthenon temple.

Athens’ Acropolis Museum, along with the National Archaeological Museum, preserves sculptures, vases, jewelry, and more from Ancient Greece.

Widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy, ancient Athens was a centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, and the home of Plato’s Academy and Aristotle‘s Lyceum.

In modern times, Athens is a large cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime, political, and cultural life in Greece.

To read this article in full, please visit: greekcitytimes.com

The magnificent archaeological site of Phaistos where an imposing palace stood overlooking the Mediterranean for thousands of years is perhaps not as well known as the palace of Knossos, but it was a focal point in the long and illustrious history of Crete.

It is the second-largest Cretan palace founded by the legendary King Minos of Knossos, but it does not face the Peloponnese mainland like Kydonia does, but rather southward and outward, toward the Mediterranean.

The palatial fortress, located in a seismically active zone, was rebuilt twice after it was first constructed in the Late Bronze Age.

Later, the palatial city, which archaeologists believe was a dependency of Knossos, was tragically destroyed a third time by the nearby Minoan people known as the Gortynians.

Phaistos site of Minoan-era palace with rooms made of alabaster

Located 62 km from Heraklion, Crete, the Bronze Age site lies on the outskirts of the modern-day city of Faistos. Unlike the more well-known and visited site of Knossos, which sees many thousands of visitors every year, Phaistos is more difficult to reach, accessed by grand stairs; but its mountain fastness, with its commanding views over the Mediterranean, is especially impressive because of its location.

The grand staircases at Phaistos hint at its former grandeur. There is evidence of an amphitheater, and basins used for religious rituals still dot the site. Visitors to Phaistos can still take in the views from its courtyards and terraces. A closer look at its ruins reveals reconstruction repairs over the three phases of destruction, while the tombs of rulers are located a respectful distance from the palaces.

The Bronze Age ruins of Phaistos were first described in the modern era by Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt, as part of the Mediterranean Survey of 1853, which included the topography, settlements, and monuments of Crete. But of course, the once-elegant city was well known by the ancients; the Greek geographer Strabo, who lived from 64 BC to 24 AD, stated: “Of the three cities that were united under one metropolis by Minos, the third, which was Phaestus, was razed to the ground by the Gortynians; it is sixty stadia distant from Gortyn, twenty from the sea, and forty from the seaport Matalum; and the country is held by those who razed it.”

The extensive palace complex contained a theater, grand staircases, rooms with views of Mt. Psiloritis

Spratt and his crew found homes at the site that have since been removed, as well as the fortification walls of the palatial city.Federico Halbherr later began to uncover the remains of an extensive palace complex at Phaistos.

Pottery unearthed at Phaistos dates back to the Middle and Late Minoan periods, including polychrome items and embossing in imitation of metal work. Bronze Age works from Phaistos include bridge-spouted bowls, eggshell cups, tall jars, and large pithoi.

The levels of the theater area, flanked by two splendid staircases, made for a grand entrance to the main hall of the propylaea through tall doors. A twin gate led directly to the central courtyard through a wide street.

The upper floors of the west sector had spacious ceremonial rooms, although their exact restoration has not been possible.

The spectacular entrance from the central courtyard led to the royal apartments in the north part of the palace, with a view of the tops of Psiloritis. The rooms were constructed from alabaster and other materials. The rooms for princes were smaller and less luxurious than the rooms of the royal apartments, however.

The Phaistos Disc

One of the most remarkable artifacts in Greek history was found at Phaistos in 1908, when Luigi Pernier, an Italian archaeologist and academic working with the Italian School of Archaeology in Athens discovered the Phaistos Disc in a basement in the northernmost ruins of the palace complex.

The disc features symbols stamped in clay; measuring 15 cm, its hieroglyphic script has been dated to between 1950 and 1400 BC. One of the most striking displays at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, its 241 tokens with 45 symbols, or characters, are arranged in a clockwise spiral. One guess is that it is a recording of military or hunting exploits. However, most academic attempts to decipher a syllabary or logogram for the Disc have had disappointing results; it is generally agreed that more examples are needed to break its code. 

To read this article in full and discover more interesting facts about Phaistos, please visit: greekreporter.com

Summer is already here, and the summer holidays are fast approaching. So, if you plan to enjoy them with your family, it would be great to have some activities planned. As you know, children (and adults!) tend to get bored easily, so if you have a pre-planned activity program, you can enjoy quality time together and break your cell phone addiction! 

 

Of course, this does not mean you have to stress over doing everything on the list. Remember that a trip with the whole family can be challenging, so you don’t need the extra stress. Just slow down, relax, and embrace the summer season with your loved ones! 

Beach Picnic

 

Sea whets the appetite, so a picnic on the beach provides the perfect opportunity to enjoy a meal together and refuel your bodies after a swim!

Swimming

Muscle strengthening, improving the cardiorespiratory system, relieving stress, and promoting socialization are just a few benefits of swimming.

Visiting Museums & Archeological Sites

With children entitled to reduced admission to most museums, visiting museums and sightseeing, in general, is both educational and economical for children and parents!

Sailing

Sailing is a great sport for children to learn to love the sea and overcome their fear of water.

Reading

Reading is not just an individual activity. You can read a book together, as a family, one chapter at a time. Reading will automatically become more interesting for both you and the children.

Board Games

All-time classic, beloved, mystery, strategy, or fantasy, board games sharpen the mind and encourage fair play.

Cooking

Cooking is a great way to spend time together and help children express their creativity and feel that they contribute to the family dynamic.

Hiking

Hiking is one of the best hobbies you can start as a family, as it allows you to explore breathtaking places and improve overall well-being by promoting physical activity.

Open-air Cinema

In Greece, every neighborhood has an open-air cinema, ideal for those who want to enjoy a movie under the starry sky.

Diving

Diving is an exciting activity for everyone. You and your children, accompanied by a professional diver, can become underwater explorers and discover the seabed's magical secrets.

Cycling

Everyone knows that some of the best childhood memories feature bikes as perfect companions for all of our adventures.

Camping

Nature, less screen time, spending quality face-to-face time with other campers, and the overall feeling of pure relaxation are a few reasons you should try this unique experience.

Ball Games

Sports are essential for the mental and physical health of children and adults. A family game of basketball, football, or any other sport, is a great way to promote sportsmanship.

Theater Show

Theatrical education should be an integral part of children’s extracurricular education as it positively contributes to increasing concentration, attention, and empathy.

Kayaking

Kayaking can be done on rivers, lakes, or the sea and is an experience you will surely love.

Athens won two significant awards at the World Travel Awards 2022, showing the strength of the Greek capital in the global tourism market.

Athens was crowned Europe's Leading Cultural City Destination 2022, and This is Athens-Convention & Visitors Bureau won Europe's Leading City Tourist Board 2022. The awards were announced at the Europe Gala Ceremony 2022 in Mallorca, Spain, on October 1, 2022.

The World Travel Awards are regarded as the Oscars of tourism, serving to acknowledge, reward, and celebrate excellence across all industry sectors. Votes come from professionals in the travel and tourism sector and travelers themselves. This year’s voting process hit a new record with 2.3 million votes cast online.

The award naming Athens as Europe's Leading City Tourist Board 2022 is a testament to the strategy of the City of Athens for the management and promotion of the city as a visitor destination. This holistic approach is paying dividends by increasing the number of visitors arriving in Athens each year. The award also signifies the city’s upward course in the global meetings industry. Athens ranked 6th in Europe and 8th worldwide for international association meetings according to the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) Annual Report 2021.

The CEO of Athens Development & Destination Management Agency, Epaminondas Mousios, accepted the awards on behalf of Athens during the Gala Ceremony in Mallorca, noting “The City of Athens is working hard to make Athens an ideal destination both for locals and visitors. This recognition confirms that we have the right strategy for a sustainable, resilient, and accessible city and highlights the effectiveness with which This is Athens-Convention & Visitors Bureau can manage and promote the tourism product of Athens.”

To read this article in full, please visit: greekcitytimes.com