Greece 'has failed to promote Olympics'

Greece’s top Olympic official said the country had failed to capitalise on the summer Olympics and attract foreign tourists to the capital Athens, where she said there was “no international Olympic atmosphere”.

Instead, competition from neighbouring countries like Turkey and rising prices have contributed to a drop in visitors to Greece, where tourism accounts for eight percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

“There should have been a properly designed Olympic campaign. There isn’t,” Fani Palli-Petralia told the daily To Vima in an interview published today.

“This campaign should have started two years ago,” she was quoted as saying, blaming the former socialist government, which was ousted by March 7 elections that gave victory to the New Democracy Party.

Some 5,000 hotel beds out of a total 62,000 in Athens have yet to be booked during the August 13-29 Olympic Games, the capital’s hotelier association reported.

Last month Greek officials proposed a set of tourist-friendly initiatives, such as an ombudsman to hear travellers’ complaints and a multi-lingual information centre.

They have also announced efforts to keep ancient sites, museums and other tourist attractions open longer during the games, and plans to install an elevator at the Acropolis for visitors who cannot climb stairs.

With less than two months before the opening ceremony, Petralia said Greece should focus now on hosting a successful Olympics to attract tourists in the future.

“For Greece the great profit will be the image that it will project during the Olympic Games,” she was quoted as saying.