ECONOMY

Greece’s global appeal

On the occasion of World Tourism Day yesterday, Tourism Development Minister Fanni Palli-Petralia opened the «Tourism Planetarium,» a 15-meter-high ball installed at the Panathenaic Stadium in central Athens. Operating until Saturday (9 a.m. – 10 p.m.), the Planetarium will feature projections of films on tourism sites and infrastructures in Greece on a 360-degree vision field. Petralia predicted that tourism arrivals could reach 19 million in 2007, from 15 million this year, a 30 percent annual rise, and said this will bolster the Greek economy further. She also mentioned that Greece hopes to become one of the world’s top five destinations. To do so, she said, the country must make full use of its comparative advantages, highlight new forms of tourism beyond the traditional «sea and sun» model, upgrade areas saturated by tourists, improve services provided, modernize infrastructures, adopt new legislation to boost entrepreneurship, and adjust economic and tax policy. All these objectives must be carried out without abandoning the intense promotion of Greek tourism around the world, she added.

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