Athens Museums Celebrating El Greco

Greece honours the fourth centenary of El Greco's death with a wide-range of exhibitions and cultural activities to highlight and celebrate the painter whose works are widely seen as the precursor to modern art. Domenico Theotocopoulos is regarded as a precursor of both Expressionism and Cubism, while his personality and works were a source of inspiration for poets and writers such as Rainer Maria Rilke and Nikos Kazantzakis. These are a few of the exhibitions in honour of the “Great Master”:

• D. Theotokopoulos between Venice and Rome”   will take place in the Benaki Museum at 138, Pireos St., from 21/11/2014 until 01/03/2015.
• “Greco's cycle of friends in Toledo” will be held at the central building of the Benaki Museum from 13/11/2014 until 01/05/2015 The exhibition will be about El Greco's personal cycle of friends in Toledo, which included intellectuals, collectors and people who gave him commissions; they provided inspiration and support to him during the most productive period of his career.
• “Domenico Theotocopoulos before El Greco” will be held at the Byzantine and Christian Museum from 19/11/2014 until 31/03/2015.

For more info see here: http://www.byzantinemuseum.gr/en/temporary_exhibitions/ and http://www.benaki.gr/index.asp?lang=en&id=20201.

UNESCO places “Mastiha Chiou” on the “List of Intangible Cultural Heritage”

In its annual meeting in Paris last month UNESCO had accepted Greece's application for the recognition of Chios' traditional mastic practices and added the traditional harvesting and produce of “mastiha Chiou” on its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage, safeguarding the uniqueness of both production and the product . Mastiha is the natural and rare tree resin of the lentisk trees found only in certain areas of the Greek island of Chios. It is used as a spice in sweets and cooking, as a flavoring for liqueurs, and in soap-making and cosmetics. The production ethics of mastiha is passed on from generation to generation through word of mouth primarily in the 24 southern villages of Chios known as the “Mastichohoria”. For more info see here:

http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?lg=en&pg=00011&RL=00993

Athens and Thessaloniki: part of the 100 Resilient Cities List

Out of 331 applicants, Athens and Thessaloniki were selected to be included on the Rockefeller Foundation's list of 100 Resilient Cities.  The 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) network is an initiative pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation and is dedicated to helping cities around the world become more resilientto the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. In order to apply, each city needs to present a clear plan of approach towards their major resilience challenges. For more info see here: http://www.100resilientcities.org/cities.

December was a month of awards for Greek hotels

• The St Nicolas Bay Resort Hotel & Villas on Crete in Greece has been included in the top 10 best family-friendly beach hotels in the world, according to a list compiled by The Telegraph.
• The 100-year-old Poseidonion Grand Hotel on the island of Spetses, has been named the “World's Best Classic Boutique Hotel” and “Europe's Best Classic Boutique Hotel at this year's World Boutique Hotel Awards 2014 ceremony held at the Montcalm Hotel, Marble Arch, in London.
• Blue Palace, a Luxury Collection Resort and Spa, in Elounda, Crete, was has ranked third in the top 10 European Resorts of US Condé Nast Traveler Readers Choice Awards 2014, for the third consecutive year.
• Porto Carras Meliton 5* has been recognized as a Europe Winner and won the “Luxury Hotel – Best Scenic Environment” title at the World Luxury Hotel Awards ceremony
• The Yades group's Santorini Esperas was voted the “Most Romantic Historic Hotel” for 2015 during this year's Historic Hotels of Europe Awards ceremony held in Trecin, Slovakia. Esperas was also named by Fodor's as one of the 100 Best Boutique Hotels.
• Greek hotels located on Santorini, Crete, Mykonos and Athens were added to the “2014 Gold List,” which was voted by Condé Nast Traveler readers . These are the hotels that were included on the list:   Perivolas , Santorini (Readers' Choice Rating: 98.5), Blue Palace Resort & SpaElounda, Crete  (Readers' Choice Rating: 96.4), Mykonos Grand Hotel & Resort, Mykonos (Readers' Choice Rating: 94.1), Hotel Grand Bretagne  , Athens  (Readers' Choice Rating: 91.3), Mystique, Santorini (Readers' Choice Rating: 90.0)

Michelin Chef in charge of the new restaurant in luxury hotel Epirus Palace  

Luxury hotel Epirus Palace located in the historic town of Ioannina, at the heart of the so-called Greek Alps   in western Greece announced the official opening of its “I Cappuccini” concept bar-restaurant. The Greek-Italian Michelin Star-winning chef Ettore Botrini presented a unique menu integrating Italian touches into traditional Epirus cuisine. Mr. Botrini will use local products from the Epirus region, in northern Greece, to create innovative dishes that combine tradition and the latest in modern culinary art. For more info see here: http://www.epiruspalace.gr/restaurants-bars_4656.htm

Five Greek destinations on Global Top 100 Sustainable Destinations for 2014

Sustainable Destinations Global Top 100, a joint initiative of Green Destinations and Totem Tourism included 5 Greek destinations in their list for 2014. Alonissos island, Athos area in Halkidiki, Ierapetra in Crete, as well as the islands of Naxos and Samothrace were selected by 30 international experts on their performance on six key criteria: Nature, Environment, Culture & Tradition, Social well-being, Green Economy andcertified Green Tourism Policy. The Sustainable Destinations Global Top 100 celebrates the management efforts of the world's most sustainable tourist destinations. For more info see here: http://greendestinations.info/top100/

New logo set to brand Greek products

The Hellenic Association of Advertising-Communication Agencies (EDEE) recently presented the new logo that will from now on mark all local products exported to international markets, with the aim certifying Greek origin and reinforcing the brand of Greek products. MILK Branding Professionals, a Greek agency specialised in branding, design, creation and materialization of corporate product identification, was selected after a draw and undertook the project free of charge. For more info see here: http://news.gtp.gr/2014/12/16/greek-heart-set-branding-local-products/

Hellenic Chamber of Hotels plans to evolve into a Tourism Chamber

On Tuesday, 9 December the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels (HCH) announced its decision to expand its membership by including Greek travel agents, thus leading the way towards becoming a Tourism Chamber. The HCH president, Yiorgos Tsakiris, referred to the chamber's proposal highlighting further development of Greek tourism including theimprovement of the tourism product with new lucrative tourism forms to tackle seasonality; upgrading offered hotel services; supporting Greek hotels through measures that include the rationalization of taxes and Value Added Tax rates. For more info see here: http://news.gtp.gr/2014/12/09/greeces-hotel-chamber-to-evolve-into-a-tourism-chamber/.

New statistics show a continuous bloom of Greek Tourism

Preliminary data recently released by the Bank of Greece revealed an increase in revenue from tourism receipts in September 2014.The travel balance in September showed a surplus of 2.101 million Euros compared to 1.870 million Euros during the corresponding month of 2013, an increase of 12.3 percent. Moreover, in September 2014 incoming traffic to Greece stood at 3.644 mm travellers, an increase of 23.0 % compared to the same month of 2013, while arrivals from the United Kingdom in particular increased by 10.7%.

Also, Athens was the only city that reported double-digit hotel occupancy increase on a European level, according to data released recently by STR Global on the European hotel industry for October 2014. More specifically, the occupancy rate of Athenian hotels last month rose by 18.2 percent to 79.6 percent, which was the largest increase in Europe.

Finally, November was a record month for Athens International Airport (AIA). For the first time in the last five years over one million passengers, namely 1.04 million, passed through its gates in just one month. This figure represents an increase of 27.4 percent over last year when 815.500 passengers passed through AIA during the same month.International passengers to Greece with Athens as their final destination increased by 28 percent in November.

For more info see here: http://news.gtp.gr/2014/11/21/greek-tourism-revenue-september/;

http://news.gtp.gr/2014/12/03/athens-airport-exceeds-1-million-passengers-november/;

http://news.gtp.gr/2014/11/24/athens-hotels-record-highest-occupancy-increase-europe-october/

-Ends-

For further press information, please contact: Frances Tuke, Lotus UK, T: 020 7953 7470 E: frances@lotus-uk.co.uk or Panos Papadopoulos, Greek National Tourism Organisation, GNTO UK & Ireland Office, T: 020 74959311, E: media@gnto.co.uk.