Tourist arrivals to grow by more than 10 percent this year, hoteliers told Athens news agency.Greek hoteliers expect tourist arrivals to rise by more

than 10 percent this year compared with 2005. Gerasimos Fokas, president of the

Hotel Chamber of Greece, speaking to reporters said the Chamber aimed to

attract new members from the wider tourism industry and to better represent

tourist regions.

Presenting the new board’s future plans, Fokas said the Chamber would promote

the foundation of a center to support small- and medium-sized enterprises in

the tourism industry on investment and marketing issues, while a new-founded

organization FiloxeniaCert would offer certification to hotels around the

country according to international standards.

Fokas underlined that tourist revenues lagged behind tourist arrivals numbers

in recent years, but stressed that this year’s revenues would not be less

compared with 2005 revenues.

He noted that an ?all inclusive? trend, prevailing in hotels with more than 150

rooms, has not been exhausted its dynamism yet, while he criticized a series of

problems with coastal shipping services that undermined tourism in Greek

islands.
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