Greece has scored a win in its fight to protect their right to the term 'Feta' as Europe's top court reprimanded Denmark for not blocking local companies from using the name for sales outside the European Union. Greece claims feta as part of its cultural heritage because it has made the sheep and goat milk cheese for 6,000 years. The Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) agreed with its assertion. FIL PHOTO: A cheesemonger puts pieces of Greece's trademark feta cheese in a bag for a customer in central Athens, Greece. REUTERS/John Kolesidis "By failing to stop the use of the designation 'Feta' for cheese intended for export to third countries, Denmark has failed to fulfil its obligations under EU law," judges said. In the case brought by the Europea...
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Holiday group TUI expects the highest level of demand for Greece on record this year, its director of Communications Aage Duenhaupt told Athens news agency on Sunday. Tourism accounts for about 20% of Greece’s gross domestic product and has a crucial role in helping the economy to emerge from a decade-long debt crisis followed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Foreign visitors are flocking back to Greece's islands and ancient monuments, raising hopes for its vital tourism industry after a turbulent two years, though the impact of high inflation means a return to normal may still be some way off. A view of a beach in front of the Cape Sounio Grecotel Resort, in Cape Sounion, near Athens, Greece, June 23, 2022. REUTERS/Vassilis Triandafyllou Greek tourism suffered its worst ever year in...
Read MoreGreece lifted COVID-19 restrictions on Sunday for foreign and domestic flights, its civil aviation authority said, ahead of the summer tourism season that officials hope will see revenues bouncing back from the pandemic slump. To fly in or out of the country, travellers were previously required to show either a vaccination certificate, a certificate saying they had recovered from coronavirus or a negative test. FILE PHOTO: People visit the ancient Parthenon Temple atop the Acropolis hill archaeological site in Athens, Greece, February 26, 2022. REUTERS/Louiza Vradi From May 1, passengers and crew will need only to wear a face mask, the civil aviation authority said. The summer tourism season typically begins after the Greek Orthodox Easter, which was on April 24. Greece is exp...
Read MoreGreece said on Wednesday that pandemic restrictions such as mask-wearing indoors and COVID certificates will be lifted throughout the summer tourism period and authorities will consider reinstating them in September. Coronavirus infections in Greece have eased in recent weeks, with authorities recording 15,000 infections and 64 deaths on Tuesday. Out of a population of 11 million, some 72% are fully vaccinated. FILE PHOTO: An aerial view of a hotel resort on the island of Corfu, Greece, March 2, 2022. REUTERS/Adonis Skordilis Greece's vital summer tourism season typically begins after the Orthodox Easter, which this year falls on April 24. Greece is expecting high numbers of visitors this year, with officials predicting revenues reaching 80% of 2019 levels, a record year before t...
Read MoreIt took one electricity bill to crush Dimitris Diavatis' hopes that his Greek summer resort could bounce back to its pre-pandemic health this year, even with bookings pouring in. The amount was more than double what he paid this time last year when the hotel was not even open. After two sluggish summers, the irony was not lost on him: "We won't make a profit in a good year," he said. "It'll be eaten up by inflation." Greece - like the other tourism-dependent economies on the euro zone's Mediterranean fringe – is seeing signs of a much-needed recovery in visitor numbers in 2022 after two largely lost years. As in Spain, Portugal and Italy, the sector is a huge employer and contributor to state revenues. General view of the schist village of Fajao, Pampilhosa da Serra , Portugal, F...
Read MoreGreece's tourism minister on Thursday said the visitor season would officially start in March, earlier than previous years, and there were "positive signs" of a bumper summer ahead. After COVID-19 brought global travel to a standstill in 2020, Greek tourism suffered its worst year on record with just 7 million visitors bringing in revenues of 4 billion euros ($4.55 billion). The industry, which accounts for a fifth of the economy and one in five jobs, began to recover last year when a season that officially began in May delivered about 10.5 billion euros in revenues, far less than an all-time record in 2019. Tourists walk past the ancient Parthenon temple atop Acropolis hill in Athens, Greece, February 16, 2022. REUTERS/Costas Baltas "There is great demand and great dynamic fo...
Read MoreGreece protests to Turkey over ‘desecration’ at Sumela monastery Greece's foreign ministry said on Monday images showing a band dancing to electronic music at the former Orthodox Christian Sumela monastery in Turkey were "offensive" and "a desecration" of the monument. The ministry called on Turkish authorities "to do their utmost to prevent such acts from being repeated" and to respect the site, a candidate for UNESCO's list of world heritage sites. "The recent images that were displayed on social media, in which a foreign band seems to be dancing disco in the area of the Historical Monastery of Panagia Soumela, are a desecration of this Monument," it said. Turkish officials were not immediately available for comment. FILE PHOTO: A general view of the ancient Sumela Mona...
Read MoreSome Istanbul Airport flights resumed on Tuesday after nearly 24 hours of cancellations as heavy snowfall clogged roads and stranded thousands of people across Turkey and Greece. In Athens, thousands were evacuated from a motorway and took shelter at the city's airport after Monday's severe snowstorm. By Tuesday, dozens of cars were still covered in snow as ploughs tried to clear roads. In Istanbul, the airport, among the world's biggest, was under a thick blanket of snow with runways and planes covered. Nuruosmaniye Mosque and Grand Bazaar, known as the Covered Bazaar, in Eminonu district are seen during heavy snowfall in Istanbul, Turkey January 25, 2022. REUTERS/Umit Bektas The snowfall began late last week and picked up over the past days in the city of 16 million people, ...
Read MoreGreece will forbid new road building and development in six of its mountain areas, taking a first step to protect its last remaining virgin habitats, Environment Minister Kostas Skrekas said on Tuesday. Making the transition to green energy a key priority, the conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has promised to shut down nearly all its lignite-fired plants by 2025 and protect areas with native plants and animals. FILE PHOTO: A storm approaches the snow covered mountain range of Panachaiko, near Kalavryta, some 200 km (124 miles) south-west of Athens in Peloponnese district. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis Following devastating wildfires fuelled by a protracted heatwave last summer, the government has also promised to build better climate change defences to prote...
Read MoreRekindles campaign for UK to hand over historical marbles A marble fragment of the Parthenon temple has been returned to Athens from a museum in Sicily, a move officials hope will advance efforts to have the British Museum send back ancient sculptures from Greece's most renowned ancient landmark. Athens' Acropolis Museum presented on Monday the "Fagan fragment", a 35-by-31-centimetre (12-by-14-inch) marble fragment showing the foot of the seated ancient Greek goddess Artemis brought home from the Antonio Salinas Archaeological Museum in Palermo. A fragment of the Parthenon temple, on loan from the Antonino Salinas Regional Archaeological Museum of Palermo, is displayed at the Parthenon Gallery of the Acropolis Museum in Athens, Greece, January 10, 2022. REUTERS/Alkis Konstantinid...
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