Hi Dave,
I'm a bit late responding to this so maybe you've already seen the following:
Greece to extend hours at museums, archeological sites, stores to aid tourism
Derek Gatopoulos
Associated Press
Friday, May 27, 2005
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece's museums and main archeological sites will open longer this summer as part of an effort to boost the country's vital tourism industry following the Athens Olympics, Premier Costas Caramanlis announced Thursday.
"Starting in the first 10 days of June, all main museums will remain open from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at weekdays and weekends," Caramanlis said after meeting top tourism officials.
The new opening hours will apply to the ancient Acropolis in Athens and the country's main archeological sites, officials from the prime minister's office said.
Many of Greece's main museums currently close at 2 p.m., often leaving tourists locked out of important sites.
Opening hours for many stores will also be extended to 9 p.m. daily this summer and the number of shopping areas designated as tourist regions, with fewer operating restrictions, is set to increase.
Greece is spending a record $75 million US in 2005 to promote itself as a year-round vacation destination - in a bid to boost tourist arrivals by seven per cent from last year.
Singer Helena Paparizou, who won for Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest on May 21 in Kyiv, Ukraine, is participating in the promotion campaign.
Tourism Ministry officials are hoping for a 40 per cent increase in tourist arrivals on the year from the United States, as Americans resume international travel following the Sept. 11, terrorist attacks.
The upbeat prediction comes despite a warning last month from hoteliers in greater Athens who said occupancy rates slumped to an abysmal 42.9 per cent in January, down 8.8 per cent from 2004.
Tourism, with vacations to Mediterranean beaches and ancient monuments, generates 18 per cent of Greece's gross domestic product, according to the tourism ministry.
Hopes for a bumper year in 2004, when Athens hosted the Olympics, failed to materialize, with sluggish island bookings and even hotels in the capital left with spare capacity.
But Caramanlis said the games - which cost the country a whopping $13.8 billion - will have a beneficial effect in the long term.
"Greece showed itself off to the world as a modern and beautiful country ... and a country that can provide high-quality holidays for 12 months of the year," he said.
Caramanlis announced that the state-run Greek National Tourism Organization is planning to add 49 offices to its existing 23 around the world, with new sites in emerging markets like China.
© AP
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