Tourism picks up in Greece, but without the Greeks

ATHENS, Attica: Foreign tourists are finding their way back to Greece’s islands and ancient ruins, offering a rare boost to an economy contracting for the sixth year running.

Arrivals are on the up again after dismal 2012 figures but domestic tourism is at a standstill and Greece’s second-tier destinations are more deserted than ever.

The Association of Greek tourism enterprises (SETE) this month announced a 10 percent rise in foreign arrivals at airports for the first half of 2013.

The Bank of Greece in turn announced that in the year running up to May 2013, tourism revenue had soared 38.5 percent and foreign arrivals 24 percent. It also said that tourism revenue grew 15 percent between January and May.

Head of SETE Andreas Andreadis said that improved political stability compared to 2012, a drop in prices caused by the economic crisis as well as the cancellation of holidays to Turkey and Tunisia all contributed to the recovery.

“The winter of 2012 and all the protests held in the country (against austerity measures) had caused a great drop in summer bookings. All the uncertainty with the back-to-back elections in May and June did not help either,” he told AFP.

If the upward trend continues through the crucial months of July and August, the number of foreign visitors is expected to pass the 17 million mark in 2013, after dipping under 16 million last year.

Much is at stake, as tourism makes up 17 percent of Greece’s GDP, in a country where unemployment is close to 27 percent. But an investigation by the financial crimes unit SDOE confirmed it would take more than revived tourist enthusiasm to replenish state coffers.

It found that about half of the one million hotels, restaurants and beaches inspected over the past year were dodging tax. In the highly popular islands of Rhodes and Santorini, three quarters of the businesses inspected were fined. Germans, Britons, Russians and French make up the majority of tourists visiting Greece.

Santorini has recently also seen an increase in bookings from Chinese, Japanese and Korean visitors, according to Panagiotis Bletsis, head of the island’s tourism office.

The popular island known for its breathtaking views registered the highest increase in foreign tourist arrivals for June with 27.5 percent.

“The most popular destinations are the ones benefitting the most from this rise, such as Mykonos, Rhodes, the Cycladic islands,” Andreadis said.

Other destinations, traditionally frequented mostly by Greeks, have a hard time making ends meet, he said. “Small hotels and room rentals that are not advertised face difficulties,” he said.

In the seaside town of Xylokastro in the Peloponnese, a two-hour drive from Athens, Margarita Theodossiou said she had never experienced such a difficult start to the summer season.

“We are just left feeling tired,” she said, explaining she can barely cover the running costs of her small hotel, Villa Margarita.

According to a survey carried out by the country’s consumer institute, 73 percent of Greeks will not go on holiday this summer, up from 69 percent last year.

The only affordable option for many Greeks was the popular practice of camping in the wild but the government has just doubled the fine for free campers. -- AFP Read more: Tourism picks up in Greece, but without the Greeks - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/tourism-picks-up-in-greece-but-without-the-greeks-1.328145#ixzz2aJarhnK5

Tourists, spending on the upswing in Arizona

Source: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/tourists-spending-on-the-upswing-in-arizona/article_0d8765d1-ad25-545f-912f-04c0678b1e4b.html

PHOENIX - Although the tourism sector of Tucson's economy continues to struggle, there are strong indicators that visitors - and visitor spending - are up statewide.

New figures from the Arizona Office of Tourism show more than 38.1 million people from elsewhere spent at least one night in Arizona and spent a cumulative $19.3 billion last year.

That $53 million a day in spending makes 2012 Arizona's best tourism year in more than a decade, at least in constant dollars. Even considering inflation, the report by Dean Runyan Associates said total tourism spending was still 2.5 percent above 2011.

While numbers compiled by several Southern Arizona agencies for the first quarter of 2013 show traditional measures of tourist activity here - hotels bookings and bed taxes, airport arrivals and head counts at tourist attractions - were down slightly or flat compared to the year before, the Runyan report looked a much broader range of spending statewide.

Food at restaurants, $3.6 billion, and at grocery stores, at $900 million, took the biggest bite out of tourist pocketbooks. Another $3.7 billion went to transportation, mostly gasoline and rental cars.

Retail sales, from hats to protect visitors from the sun to souvenirs like the "Arizona snowman" - essentially a hat, carrot nose and lumps of coal floating in a globe of water - accounted for $2.5 billion, with hotels and other accommodations coming in at $2.6 billion.

Still, there are some signs that, even beyond Pima County, the industry is not quite on track to full recovery.

Bookings at the Phoenix Convention Center, the largest in the state, are still lagging.

And the 161,300 tourism jobs is an increase over 2011 but still about 7,200 fewer than the record set in 2006, before the economy tanked.

State Tourism Director Sherry Henry said much of the reason is that travel-related industries are still waiting to feel a bit more comfortable that the worst has passed.

"During the really tough times, what they tried to do is what everybody did: doing more with less," she said. But with some positive signs, she expects that should encourage employers to start hiring again.

"Eventually these numbers are all going to level out," she said.

Time helps, Henry said, noting that surveys show awareness of SB 1070, which she said also impacted tourism to some degree, has seemed to fade.

Of the 38.1 million people who spent at least one night visiting in Arizona in 2012 - a 1.4 percent increase from the prior year - the new report shows the largest percentage came from Mexico. Mexicans made up two-thirds of those coming here, whether for pleasure, shopping or business.

Canadians are far behind at 15 percent. But from a pure financial standpoint, they are far better for the Arizona economy.

According to the report, more than half the money spent on tourism comes from Canadians. But much of that may be simply a function of time: Many of them stay for weeks or months.

By contrast, statewide spending by Mexicans accounts for less than 20 percent of total tourism dollars, with the balance from everywhere else.

On the domestic front, while Arizonans are known for flocking to the West Coast, there is evidence this is not entirely a one-sided relationship. California produced the largest number of Arizona overnight visitors, followed by Texas, Nevada, New Mexico and Illinois.

Total travel spending in Arizona

(billions of dollars)

1998 - $11.8

1999 - $12.7

2000 - $13.7

2001 - $13.2

2002 - $13.2

2003 - $14.1

2004 - $15.2

2005 - $16.8

2006 - $17.8

2007 - $18.1

2008 - $18.0

2009 - $16.4

2010 - $17.5

2011 - $18.5

2012 (preliminary) $19.3

Source: Dean Runyan Associates through Arizona Office of Tourism

St. Andrews hopes for big boost in sports tourism

SANFORD – When Bill Underwood looks at the number of tourists who visit Maine and New Hampshire each year, he sees an untapped source of revenue for Sanford.

The former mill town in the heart of York County misses much of the lucrative tourist traffic that passes to its east and west, but Underwood and a local businessman have an idea that they hope will change that: a unique year-round theme park, possibly with a "Maine outdoor adventure" theme.

"It would be something different that doesn't exist," he said.

Underwood, a Springvale resident who worked in the tour and travel industry and now serves on a local economic restructuring committee, is leading the theme park project along with H. Allen Mapes.

"This seemed like the kind of industry we should be taking advantage of," Underwood said. "We can attract new development, whether it's a traditional theme park or a series of attractions."

Underwood and Mapes have raised nearly all of the $35,000 they need to bring two consultants to Sanford to do a preliminary feasibility study.

The City Council contributed $5,000 toward the study; the rest of the money has come primarily from donations from the business community.

The amusement park consultants are tentatively scheduled to be in Sanford at the end of July for a tour that will include a fly-over in a helicopter to view potential sites for a theme park, Underwood said. He expects the report on the consultants' findings to be ready a month later.

Sanford, built along the Mousam River, endured the closure of its mills in the 1950s and the decline of its industrial base in the 1980s and 1990s.

"When we lost our textile mills, we took a terrible hit. We lost 3,000 jobs overnight," Mapes said. "I don't think we've ever recovered from that terrible blow. It's been a long, hard battle."

Sanford had high hopes a decade ago that a casino might bring visitors and spark the local economy, but that plan was rejected by voters statewide.

The theme park isn't intended to compete with other attractions in the region, Underwood said. "For instance, Saco has outdoor water parks and York has a zoo and a kids' amusement park. We wouldn't want to duplicate that and draw people away from those parks."

Underwood and Mapes said Sanford's attraction could include an indoor water park that operates year-round, something the area lacks.

City Manager Steven Buck said he and other city officials are interested to see "what potential Sanford has to create a tourism destination."

"This could be part of the diversification of Sanford's economy," he said, creating the "base that Sanford needs in order to take part in the tourism industry."

Sanford officials have been focused in recent years on stimulating the local economy and courting new development.

At the beginning of this year, Sanford became a city, a designation that officials say better reflects its stature as Maine's seventh-largest community. It also introduced a new motto, "Sanford Maine: Explore. Create. Grow."

Underwood said a theme park would add tax revenue and boost other businesses in the city. It would also provide needed jobs, he said.

Sanford's proximity to southern Maine and New Hampshire is advantageous, Underwood said, citing the proposal in 2003 to build a $650 million casino in south Sanford.

"There's a reason why the developer picked this area. It's not a secret this would be a prime location for some kind of tourist attraction project," he said.

Underwood, who has many ideas for the theme park, said the theme could evolve based on the findings of the consultants. For now, he envisions a park with a theme that capitalizes on what Maine – and Sanford – has to offer.

He sees the possibilities as nearly endless: there might be camping, cabins or tree houses, outdoor activities or an indoor water park.

While the theme park is still in the idea phase, Underwood and Mapes said it has been generating interest around town.

"I'm saying a prayer (this will happen). We need to improve the economy of Sanford," Mapes said. "The people, I hope, will come from miles around."

Gillian Graham can be contacted at 791-6315 or at:

ggraham@pressherald.com

Twitter: grahamgillian

Original post at http://www.kjonline.com/news/weaky-leady-or-secondry-story-gets-a-headliny_2013-07-06.html