
TripAdvisor, the travel planning and booking site, recently announced the winners of its Travelers’ 2016 Choice awards for Landmarks. The Acropolis in Athens is among the top 25 landmarks in the world, ranking 17th.
The list of Europe’s top landmarks includes the Acropolis in the 10th place.

The Beauty that's Greece, 2016

Kountoura: World Still Has Confidence in Greece
“The global market is showing its confidence in Greece and for 2016 we have received very positive signs. If all goes well, we expect a new tourism record.
International markets have responded strongly to our new policy”

“Greece is currently one of the most attractive and competitive destinations in the region, offering a unique and genuine product which we are continually strengthening and enriching,”
Addressing the convention, Ms Kountoura reiterated that tourism is “national affair” and presented the goals of her ministry which include extending the tourist season, working with 13 regions for the development of local tourism, actively promoting alternative forms of tourism, identifying and pushing new Greek destinations, opening up to new markets, upgrading the quality of tourism products and services, tapping into luxury tourism so as to increase revenue per visitor, improving infrastructure of tourism accommodation including airports, ports and marinas, as well as reinforcing tourism policy.
The minister also added that the focus now is to expand into medical and spa, religious, cultural, culinary, congress, sea, cruise, yachting and sports tourism.
Watch the video of Antony Bourdain visiting the Unknown Parts, the Good Life in Greece
Tsipras: I ask you to bet on Greece's tourism this year
2016 Destinations Ranking, Greece keeps mounting at top

Santorini was named Europe’s best island in TripAdvisor’s annual rankings, followed by Majorca and Madeira, Portugal.
Crete, Greece, was fourth and Tenerife, Spain, was fifth.
In the worldwide ranking of TripAdvisor 2016, Santorini comes second edging with the Hawanian island Maui which has been named this year the best island in the world.
source: Trip Advisor April 19, 2016
World
1. Maui, Hawaii
2. Santorini, Greece
3. Jamaica, Caribbean
4. Providenciales, Turks and Caicos
5. Bali, Indonesia
6. Majorca, Spain
7. Mauritius
8. Phuket, Thailand
9. Bora Bora, French Polynesia
10. Fernando de Noronha, Brazil
Europe
1. Santorini, Greece
2. Majorca, Spain
3. Madeira, Portugal
4. Crete, Greece
5. Tenerife, Spain
6. Rhodes, Greece
7. Gran Canaria, Spain
8. Corsica, France
9. Jersey, Channel Isles, United Kingdom
10. Capri, Italy
UK and Channel Islands
1. Jersey
2. Isle of Wight
3. Isle of Skye
4. Anglesey
5. Isle of Man
6. Guernsey
7. Isle of Arran
8. Mainland Orkney
9. Lewis and Harris
10. St Mary's

The island of Santorini is among ‘Checkinhistory’ online portal’s ‘7 Unbelievable Places You Should Visit Before You Die…’ list. Find the complete list from Checkinhistory
‘Santorini
one
of the 7 Unbelievable Places on Globe You Should Visit Before You Die…’
one
of the 7 Unbelievable Places on Globe You Should Visit Before You Die…’
Greece the most popular to Russians, Britons, Germans and Serbs
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the Brits

Greece in top-5 most popular destination for Brits during 2016
TravelZoo, which conducted the study, revealed that 27 per cent of bookings for Britons' 'main summer holiday' were for domestic trips, making the UK a more popular destination than Spain, France, Italy and America.
Most popular destinations abroad
The second-most popular destination was Spain, which accounted for 21 per cent of Britons' bookings, followed by France (10 per cent), the US and Italy (both eight per cent) and Greece, with seven per cent.
The staycation trend comes amid fears of terrorist attacks in foreign countries.
Louise Hodges, European Head of Communications at Travelzoo, said: 'Despite the attempts of terrorists to disrupt our daily lives it’s great to see the great British public still insisting on their summer holiday.
Spain most popular for Brits this summer (but Greece offers best bargains)

However, when comparing specific travel dates, the Greek islands Crete and Corfu offer the least expensive weeks available to book on TripAdvisor this summer.
Crete comes in at a cost of £654 for those travelling at the end of May into the first week of June and Corfu totals £665 for the same period.
The Russians

The number of Russian tourists in Greece this year may reach 1 million, according to Russian Tourism Federal Agency head Oleg Safonov who was a keynote speaker at the forum titled “Russia and Greece: Reality and Prospects for Cooperation in the Tourism Sector”, which included B2B meetings aimed at securing business deals and partnerships between Greek and Russian tourism enterprises.
During his speech, Mr. Safonov noted that Greece was leading the Russian marketall throughout May and recalled that in 2013 this country attracted the maximum number of Russian tourists with 1.2 million arrivals, to be followed by a downward trend during 2014-2015.
It seems, however, that this year there will be a significant recovery and he is convinced that "the number of Russian visitors may reach 1 million."
''Russians love Greece and they like to travel here. They like the beaches and the sunny climate, but there is room for expansion of their travel choices to other less known destinations within the country." Mr. Safonov concluded
It seems, therefore, that Greece will possibly be the "champion" that will take advantage of the Russian tourists' refusal to visit Turkey and Egypt this summer.
Russia’s tourism officials have said that Turkey and Egypt will not be destinations for its citizens for the rest of 2016 following the downing of a Russian military aircraft last year and concerns over safety.
The forum was organized by the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) and Russia’s Federal Agency for Tourism Rostourism
The arrivals of Russian tourists are expected to increase by 20-70 percent this year, Alternate Foreign Minister Nikos Xydakis said and assured, concerning the high demand for tourist visas in Russia, that at the end of next month the number of Greek employees working for the Greek Consulate's visa services will increase to 100.
“The Foreign Ministry, by Deputy Minister Nikos Xydakis, has assured that the procedure will normalize and the target of issuing 7,000 visas a day will rise from the current 2,000 by the end of May”, Mr. Andreadis Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) President underlined.
It was revealed recently that Isis is planning terror attacks across Europe this summer, targeting holidaying tourists by posing as ice cream and T-shirt sellers.
Following recent Jihadist atrocities in France, Belgium, Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt, a number of holidaymakers revealed that their current destination choice was impacted by existing travel restrictions on some of the affected countries.
Serbian tourists visiting Greece could reach one million

Serbian Ambassador to Greece said that many Serbs that would otherwise have gone to Turkey will now choose Greece
Serbian Ambassador to Greece Dušan Spasojević said that the number of Serbian tourists visiting Greece this year could reach one million, as a result of the problems recorded in Turkey.
Visiting the Volvi municipality in northern Greece, he said that many Serbs that would otherwise have gone to Turkey will now choose Greece for their holidays. He also added that a large number of the tourists from Serbia will visit Volvi.
He talked about the strong ties between Greece and Serbia, as well as the opportunities for investment Serbia now offers for Greek businesses.
Spasojević met with Volvi Mayor Diamantis Liamas in Asprovalta, accompanied by the management of the Greek-Serbian Chamber of Greece, representatives of local tourism associations and local business people.
the Germans

But there are wide-ranging differences in the strengths and weaknesses of the destinations in ten different product categories and four image categories, according to detailed evaluations by decision-makers from more than 260 travel agencies.
The categories included ‘trust and safety’, value for money, hotel quality, beach quality, hospitality, flight connections, service quality, landscape and countryside, and ‘uniqueness’.
The Beauty that's Greece
The Beauty that's Greece
A living caryatis, today's Minister of Tourism, has represented Greece's beauty in the eyes of the world for decades . Fate brought her on the most difficult moments of Greece to host the world's tourism, as a unique and valuable Ambassador .....








In her message, Alternate Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura invites visitors to contact the Tourism Ministry’s new special team which has been launched to address any possible problems related to tourism..
“I have been working closely with all tourism authorities and associations to ensure Greece continues to offer the highest quality of tourism services to its visitors.
We have daily updates here at the Ministry for Tourism, and we are all working 24/7 to provide solutions to any problems that may arise, with our first priority being to ensure that all visitors have a lovely holiday experience in Greece.
For these reasons we have organised, within the Ministry, a special Team to address all the possible problems relating to tourism.
You may contact us at the e-mail address: support@mintour.gr
We wouldike to remind visitors to Greece can withdraw money from any cash machine (ATM) or carry out any other type of transaction using their credit or debit cards issued abroad with no withdrawal limitation apart from the person’s personal limit.
In reference to certain media reports, stating problems like, food, medicine or gas are unfounded, as they are not reflecting the actual situation in Greece.
Welcome to Greece and thank you very much! “
Refugee Crisis affects Greek tourism
Refugee Crisis affects Greek tourism
SETE on Travel Survey:
Refugee crisis affects image of Greece as a destination
Refugee crisis affects image of Greece as a destination

An online concept survey regarding the image of Greece in the markets of Great Britain, Germany and the USA, conducted by British company Censuswide for Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE) Intelligence on a total sample of 3046 respondents who have visited or are considering to visit Greece on whether the refugee/immigrant issue has influenced the perception of respondents about traveling to Greece found an increase in travelers doubting their safety regarding Greece
- Regarding the migration/refugee crisis,52%percent of German respondentsconfesssed that it affects their travelling perception of Greece, compared to 46 percent of respondents interviewed in the previous survey.
- The survey also recorded a 16% increase in potential UK travellers that disclosed the migration/refugee crisis affects their travelling perception of Greece (55 percent of travellers compared with 39 percent of respondents in the previoussurvey).
- The migration/refugee crisis has also affected the US market in relation to travel to Greece during the past three months(31 percent of Americans answered the crisis affects their travelling perception of Greece against 28 percent of respondents in the first survey).
According to the infographic above posted by SETE's President Andreas Andreadis, the attractiveness of Italy, Spain, France and Croatia has increased while the attractiveness of Greece, Turkey, Egypt has fallen on noticable level.more
"The government by all means must ensure that the daily life of local communities will not deteriorate, the economy and employment will not be hit and the operation of tourism enterprises and the quality of the tourist services will not be affected, regardless of any additional effects that may occur to Greece's image, arrivals and state revenue."

“The refugee crisis suddenly affected all of our 10 islands — mainly Lesvos, Samos and Chios — on all levels…said Nikolaos Katrakazos Deputy Regional Governor of Samos, representing also Lesvos and Chios island on the ITB Trade Fair in Berlin “Right now," he said, (March 2016) "the decline in bookings to our islands has reached 30-55 percent per market, per island.” The main markets of the North Aegean Region include the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy and the United Kingdom.

This is the #Borders Management List for #Greece. #Cruise and #yacht travelers will also be screened
The overexposure and the overstatement of the Refugee crisis situation created negative sentiment”