Greece's highest administrative court has ordered the Municipality of Athens to proceed with the demolition of the two top floors of Coco-Mat Athens BC Hotel for exceeding maximum height regulations in the increasingly gentrified area of Koukaki, bordering the old city and the Acropolis.
Kathimerini reports that a new 192-bed five star hotel project in Mykonos will receive a EUR 6.6m state subsidy. The mayor of Mykonos is against the project and appealed in early 2022 to the Council of State to annul it on environmental grounds.
Following public protests, a majority of councillors, including the Mayor's faction, voted to freeze long-going attempts to lease or sell coastal areas adjacent to the famous 15th c. Santa Maura castle and a popular public beech in the north eastern tip of the island. The developers have brought intimidation lawsuits against a number of citizens opposing the plans.
Falasarna Beach, CreteDespite objections by Greece's Natural Environment & Climate Change Agency (ΟΦΥΠΕΚΑ) and the Municipality of Kissamos, the Environment Committee of the Region of Crete approved by a 13-2 majority a plan by the Tsatsaronaki group to build a 850-bed hotel inside a protected coastal area in Falasarna, Crete. The project still needs approval by the Ministry and the Council of State.
World Trails Conference, SkiathosThe 8th World Trails Conference took place in late September 2022 on the Greek island of Skiathos. The 5-day conference gathered 228 participants from 5 Continents and 32 countries and discussed issues such as sustainability of paths over time, technology, health, construction, promotion and certification, in particular the Green Flag Trails ecolabel. In parallel, an International Film Festival for Trails took place, while the new Skiathos Trails, a project implemented by Paths of Greece in collaboration with the Municipality of Skiathos, were also inaugurated
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New 'Municipal Theatre' Station, Piraeus150 structures related to the City's ancient water supply system were uncovered during construction work and some of these are now part of a permanent exhibition at the new 'Municipal Theatre" underground railway station, one of three inaugurated on 10 October 2022. Piraeus has been the commercial port of Athens since ancient times and hosts important monuments that relatively few tourists visit. The new extension allows passengers to get from Athens Airport to the Port of Piraeus in approximately an hour.
In a new installment of its long-running antagonism with Greek airports operator Fraport, and its supposed high passenger fees (12 Euros per passenger), Ryanair announced its decision to in effect reduce winter flights to and from Athens as it failed to receive 'incentives' from the Greek government, who has yet to reply. In a press release the airline specifically called on Tourism Minister Kikilias to "finally reply in writing to Ryanair’s growth proposals that would transform Greek Tourism creating thousands of jobs in Greece during the winter period". Σε άλλο ένα επεισόδιο της διένεξης της με την Fraport, η Ryanair ανακοίνωσε ότι θα μειώσει το πτητικό της έργο από 29 Οκτωβρίου 2022 με βάση την Αθήνα επειδή δεν έλαβε κίνητρα από την Ελληνική Κυβέρνηση, η αντίδραση της οποίας αναμένεται. Στο δελτίο τύπου της η αεροπορική εταιρεία απευθύνεται συγκεκριμένα στον Υπουργό Τουρισμού τον οποίο καλεί "επιτέλους να απαντήσει γραπτώς στις αναπτυξιακές προτάσεις της Ryanair οι οποίες θα μεταμορφώσουν τον Ελληνικό Τουρισμό δημιουργώντας χιλιάδες θέσεις εργασίας κατά την χειμερινή περίοδο".
Ο εφοπλιστής Φίλιππος Λαιμός παραιτήθηκε από μέλος του ΔΣ του WWF στις 29 Ιουλίου 2022, εξαιτίας της δικαστικής διαμάχης μεταξύ περιβαλλοντικών οργανώσεων και του αδελφού του και του ιδίου, σχετικά με την κατασκευή δύο βιλλών στο Πάπιγκο, εντός-σύμφωνα με τις οργανώσεις-του Εθνικού Πάρκου Βόρειας Πίνδου. Filippos Laimos, a shipowner, resigned from the board of directors of WWF Greece on 29 July 2022 citing conflict of interest resulting from the court case brought by leading environmental organizations against him and his brother, over the construction of two villas in Papigo, in land which - conservationists allege - is within the boundaries of the North Pindus National Park.
Τα Υπουργεία Τουρισμού και Αγροτικής Ανάπτυξης και Τροφίμων ανήρτησαν σε δημόσια διαβούλευση μέχρι 2 Σεπτεμβρίου 2022, σχέδιο Κοινής Υπουργικής Απόφασης για τη θεσμοθέτηση και τις τεχνικές-λειτουργικές προδιαγραφές των επισκέψιμων ελαιοτριβείων. The Ministries of Tourism and Agricultural Development and Food are calling for comments on a new ministerial bill that sets the technical and operational requirements of visitable olive presses, until 2 September 2022.
Μετά από πολύωρη συνάντηση της Γ.Γ. Εργασίας και του Προεδρείου της ΠΟΕΕΤ συμφωνήθηκε η αναστολή εφαρμογής της εγκυκλίου του Υπουργείου Εργασίας που προέβλεπε τη δυνατότητα εξαήμερης εργασίας 40 ωρών ανά εβδομάδα και την έναρξη γύρου διαπραγματεύσεων με την εργοδοσία σχετικά με το καθεστώς των ημερών εργασίας. Η ισχύουσα συλλογική σύμβαση εργασίας υπεγράφη τον Ιούνιο του 2021.
After a long meeting, the general secretary of Labour and the Board of the POEET Tourism & Food Worker Union, agreed to suspend the implementation of a circular of the Ministry of Labour that provided for the possibility of six-day work of 40 hours per week. A new round of negotiations with employers will take place regarding the status of working days. The current collective labour agreement in the Tourism and Restaurant sectors was signed in June 2021.
Lampsa SA, owners of the historic Athenian hotels Grande Bretagne and King George among others, are offering a Euros 1,000 bonus to all their employees in Athens, in recognition of their hard work during a season "of 100% occupancy". Hopefully other hotel companies will follow suit.
A 16 km hiking route inside the "University Forest" of Pertouli, in northwestern Thessaly, was inaugurated today by government officials. The route consists of three main tour paths crossing the forest as well as old churches, fountains, gorges, WW2 monuments. A mobile app and website will also be created. The 3300 ha forest is managed by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
The Interministerial Strategic Investments Commission approved the EUR 840m "Saronida Olympos Golf Project", as a 'strategic project' to be developed in a natural unbuilt coastal, hilly area of 650 hectares, one of few remaining in Attica, between Saronida and Lagonissi. It involves the construction of a hotel complex, an 18-hole golf course, a heliport, a tourist village, shopping mall and marina in two stages within the next 8 years. The developers, Beta Real Estate Development SA promise to achieve a near zero carbon footprint by reforesting 300 hectares and by installing renewable energy infrastructure. Before the final go ahead an environmental impact assessment must be approved, and a presidential decree and a special spatial development plan must be issued. The land belonged to a building cooperative of health professionals, that apparently had been unable to gain the necessary permissions from consecutive governments. Premium public land in many coastal regions in Attica and the rest of Greece was acquired using dubious methods to be developed by building cooperatives ("oikodomikoi synetairismoi") formed by judges, policemen, doctors, lawyers, public servants and other professionals, in the era following the end of the civil war and until the end of the military dictatorship (1950-1974).
Hotel employees demand the signing of a collective agreement, wage increases and improvements in working conditions. The Restaurant, Tourism and Hotel Worker & Employees Syndicate argues that wage levels are at 2007 levels, staff has been halved since 2012 and visitation has quadrupled. A gathering will be held at Titania Hotel in central Athens at 9:30 am, on Friday 24 June.
The Evros Delta and Dadia National Park Management Unit announced the death of a Eurasian black vulture (Aegypius monachus), a near-threatened species, after a collision with a wind turbine within a Natura 2000 protected area in the Filiouri Valley. The dead vulture, had been marked in 2018 as a chick and also carried a transmitter. According to Sylvia Zakkak, a biologist working at the Unit, the incident proves the inadequacy of automated collision prevention systems of wind farms. In addition, such systems may displace bird populations. What is certain is that the installation of wind turbines close to important bird areas is a bad idea.
Federation of Lefkadian Associations Press ConferenceThe Federation held a press conference in Athens to express its opposition to, and coordinate action against, Lefkada Municipality plans to privatize areas adjacent to the Santa Maura Castle and the old cooperative TAOL winery. The Municipality's ultimate goal is to facilitate the construction of a five-star hotel. The Federation points out that the plans are incompatible with the character and the existing archaeological, environmental and spatial planning designations of the area.
Photo by Pandemia on FlickrEnvironment Minister Hatzidakis had visited Chrysi Island in June 2020 and talked of a "shameful sight" promising action. This summer limits have been set on the number of tourists taking day trips to the uninhabited 5 sq. km sandy Chrysi (Golden) island 15km south of Ierapetra, Crete. In addition daily visitors are not allowed to venture in the interior of the island so as to allow the Cretan juniper (Juniperus macrocarpa) forest, protected under the EU Natura 2000 scheme, to recover. The island is a declared archeological site and also has shell fossils. Twenty arbitrary constructions were demolished in mid-May 2022, however, according to the Chrysi Action Plan & Monitoring Committee, illegal wells, dirt roads, use of 4WD vehicles, water pipelines, trading (beach bars) and camping activities are still "raging" on the island. The municipality of Ierapetra has protested that the protection measures are "out of reality".
For one more summer (June 1 to August 31, 2022) it will be illegal for everyone including hoteliers to refill resort swimming pools due to water scarcity on the island. The ban was first introduced in 2018 and also prohibits refill by water trucks arriving from other places. A EUR 10k fine applies. Why does an island with magnificent beaches need so many swimming pools anyway?
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High seasonality is a characteristic of Greek Tourism, especially in island destinations, and the norm is for hotel employees to be made redundant at the end of September and rehired when hotels reopen, usually on Easter. However, two Zante hotels owned by a large US investment management company, did not want to rehire (or pay) around 200 employees earlier than the 10th of June using the pretext of being shut for renovations and a five-star upgrade. After a one month strike and local support, and despite a new law that allows hoteliers not to pay employees during renovations, the hotel workers succeeded in signing a sectoral collective bargaining agreement so that they can be employed from May 10 to October 31.
PavlopetriThe Municipality of Elafonissos announced that the first underwater routes at Pavlopetri have been demarcated with underwater signs and the 5,000 year old site is open to swimmers. Pavlopetri (Paul's Stone), discovered in 1967, and one of the oldest submerged lost cities in the world, sunk following a series of earthquakes around 1,000 BCE. The works were funded by the European Union's INHERIT-MED programme.
Commenting on the controversial decision by the Rhodes Municipal Council to investigate solutions, including hunting and sterilization, to the problem of the "Platoni" deer (Dama dama) overpopulation which destroys crops and causes around 20 road accidents annually, Vice-Minister Giorgos Amyras emphatically stated that "deer hunting will not be allowed on Rhodes". Instead, special barriers will be installed in the worst affected areas in southern Rhodes. An estimated 5,000 deer, an icon of Rhodes with a deer statue standing where the Colossus once did in the town harbour, are estimated to live on the island. The Rhodes deer is considered native to the Island, the Balkan peninsula and Turkey, with the island being called "Elafousa" (or Deer island) in ancient times, while fossils go back to the neolithic period. Another theory is that it was (re)introduced by the Knights of St. John in the middle ages but a 2006 study found that it is smaller and genetically distinct from other populations and in need of "urgent" conservation and management. In sharp contrast, the Mayor had proposed allowing licensed hunters to cull about 150 deer per annum!
Cities for Cycling-Πόλεις για ποδήλατο, in collaboration with Develop Athens are organizing the first Athens Bicycle Month this May. Enjoy free activities and discover the city by bike.
The 204-megawatt solar park features two-sided solar modules and covers a total area of 1,821 hectares near the northern Greek town of Kozani. It will supply enough power for 75,000 households and save around 300 mt of CO2. It was 75% funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, built by ELPE, Greece's biggest oil refiner, using PV modules by China's JinkoSolar and commissioned by German energy developer Juwi. The development is part of the planned de-lignitization of Western Macedonia.
Speaking at the 3rd Wine Tourism Conference held in Nemea (1-3 April 2022) the Vice-Minister of Tourism Sophia Zacharaki announced a revamped portal for certified 'visitable' wineries, a new wine tourism awards scheme and welcomed the fact that 24 new wineries have now been certified as visitable bringing the total to 88. Euros 22m will be allocated so that more wineries can be certified.
The new Radisson RED Mitropoleos Square, strategically located near Syntagma Square and Plaka is expected to open in the second half of 2023. It will feature 94 luxury apartments with kitchenettes, to be let as short term rentals (STRs), as well as a gym, a 150 sq. m. conference room, an all-day diner, and a roof top bar-restaurant with a celebrity chef, in an old, converted office building. However these very features have provoked the ire of Hoteliers: the size and location, the deep pockets of the developers and particularly the fact that it will indirectly offer recreation and food services to its customers, something expressly forbidden under the STR Legislation. Grigoris Tassios, President of the Hellenic Hoteliers Federation and a longtime critic of STRs, complains that the EUR 30m development would create unfair competition to nearby hotels burdened with higher VAT, Property and Municipal Taxes. He once more called for the regulation of the STR market and for the reduction of VAT for hotel stays to 6% from the current, pandemic era rate of 13% (the normal VAT rate was 24%).
- Santorini citizens enraged by inaction over the raising of a Cruise ship sunk in 2007
- Controversial Hotel Development inside North Pindos National Park
- Costas Carras, Elliniki Etairia Founder, passes away at 84
- Ferry tragedy raises questions, marine and truckers unions protest poor ship conditions
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