State says, no problem, rooms aplenty for 2004
The government yesterday confirmed that Greece will be able to provide more than enough rooms for Olympic officials during the 2004 Olympic Games after securing additional rooms from hotels, both in the public and private sectors. Development Minister Akis Tsochadzopoulos said the projected shortage of rooms has turned into a surplus. «With hotels offering 90 percent of their rooms to the Olympic family from 80 percent, we now have an extra 1,400 rooms instead of a 2,800 shortfall,» he said. Accomodation, together with transportation, have long been areas of concern for the International Olympic Committee. The organisation has estimated that 19,000 rooms are needed for Olympic officials. Organising committee Athens 2004 had up to last month secured some 16,700 rooms. Hotels aside, Greece plans to sublet private apartments and homes within a range of 40 km around Athens. Tsochadzopoulos said the government will soon take measures to rate which private housing would be suitable for tourists here for the 2004 Olympic Games, with the Greek National Tourist Organisation (EOT) responsible for the specifications. It also plans to allocate 29 million euros to Category C hotels, enabling them to upgrade their facilities for Olympic officials. The minister said that the tourism industry this year is on the mend following a downturn induced by the September 11 events. He said, «the situation of and forecasts for tourism traffic for 2002 have stabilised,» with indications from all European markets, apart from Germany, confirming a recovery. In the meantime, Greece is proceeding with plans to upgrade its tourism infrastructure and facilities with the help of the private sector, with the majority of the projects due to be completed in 2003 or early 2004. These include marinas around Attica, the Parnitha casino and the cable car servicing Lycabettus Hill. Separately, the Tourism Institute for Research and Forecasts said convention tourism in Greece lags considerably behind other countries. In the period 1987-1999, Greece hosted only 1-2 percent of conferences held in Europe. The market has remained flat even as other countries reported growth of 1-2 percent.
