Greek tourism industry optimistic over 2012 seasonMarch 5, 2012 - 20:55 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Greek tourism industry officials are hopeful arrivals in 2012 will remain near last year's record high, despite lagging initial bookings from major European economies, according to AP. The head of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises says there has been a significant drop in pre-bookings from the continent's strongest economies, particularly Germany. But Andreas Andreadis says the season can be saved following the conclusion of a massive debt relief deal with the crisis-hit country's creditors. He said Monday that the target is to keep international arrivals in 2012 above 16 million, and receipts higher than euro10 billion ($13.2 billion). Last year, arrivals reached 16.4 million and revenues euro10.5 billion - both up 9.5 percent on 2010. Tourism contributed some 15.7 percent of Greece's GDP last year. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Concept to complete Yerevan Cascade discussed at city hall A conceptual proposal to complete the Cascade complex in downtown Yerevan has been presented by Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Pashinyan visits flood-hit region Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Saturday, June 8 visited the disaster area in the Lori province. €3.5 mln EU grant to support justice reforms in Armenia The European Union has paid €3.5 mln grant to Armenia within a €11mln program on Support to Justice Reforms. Yerevan reacts to Baku’s proposal to see Minsk Group abolition Alen Simonyan has declared that Armenia is taking steps aimed at concluding a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. |