In Brief
Tourism professionals call for tighter policing in the sector The Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies (HATTA) is calling for stricter checks on illegal enterprises, as the Greek National Tourism Organization begins its hunt for unlawful tourism activities. Problems such as unlicensed travel agencies, coaches with fake plates, tourism products sold by private individuals on the Internet and sea tours sold illegally on the harbor dilute the image of tourism and the sector, HATTA suggests, and asks for a tourism services monitoring body to end the uncontrolled quality and frequently uninsured tourism. It also proposes that travel and tourism companies mention or attach copies of their licenses with the contracts they sign. Rising gold prices hurt Turkish exports ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Gold jewelry exports from Turkey, the world’s second-largest exporter, fell 27.4 percent year-on-year to 32.2 tons during the first five months of this year, the Turkey Association of Jewelers said yesterday. In financial terms, exports fell 3.4 percent year-on-year to $369.2 million, the association said. Turkey gold jewelry exports have been hurt by the steep rise in the price of gold between January and May. Prices peaked last month at $730 per ounce, a 40 percent rise from the beginning of the year, and a 26-year high. Exports were down 7.65 percent to 6 tons in May. The drop in exports represented a 31.77 percent fall in financial terms. Gold jewelry exports totaled 74.134 million last month. Total jewelry exports for the country rose 89.46 percent by volume over the year’s first five months, bringing in $432.95 million, a 7 percent increase from 2005. OTE vs TelePassport OTE telecom pulled the plug temporarily on alternative provider TelePassport, claiming outstanding debts. The private company responded to the interruption of its service, branding the move as illegal and suggesting that it «maintains multiple requirements on OTE which stubbornly denies them. TelePassport also called for the intervention of the Hellenic Telecommunications and Post Commission (EETT) to which it has already resorted, asking for an immediate end to the service interruption. Turk economy A senior US Treasury Department official said on Tuesday that Turkey had good economic policies in place and was committed to its International Monetary Fund program. Tim Adams, the US Treasury’s undersecretary of international affairs, also said Turkey’s fundamentals remained sound and it was feeling the transitional effects of tighter credit conditions around the world. «They’ve got good policies in place,» Adams told a small group of reporters traveling with him. «I think they have a proven track record and the fundamentals are pretty good.» He also said Ankara’s fight against inflation was made more difficult by higher world energy prices. (Reuters)
