Athens News Agency: News in English, 01-09-06

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

[02] Greek, foreign tourists report gripes over profiteering and service

[03] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Friday

[04] Greek stocks continue losing ground

[01] Foreign Exchange Rates - Friday

Indicative tourist buying rates

U.S. dollar 381.749

German mark 172.829

French franc 051.531

Pound sterling 553.318

Irish punt 429.202

Belgian franc 008.379

Luxembourg franc 008.379

Dutch guilder 153.389

Italian lira (100) 017.457

Austrian schilling 024.565

Danish kroner 45.418

Swedish kroner 35.762

Finnish mark 056.852

Spanish peseta 002.032

Portuguese escudo 001.686

Japanese yen (100) 314.838

Swiss franc 223.633

Norwegian kroner 042.524

Cyprus pound 590.084

Canadian dollar 245.232

Australian dollar 198.815

[02] Greek, foreign tourists report gripes over profiteering and service

A consumer watchdog on Thursday reported that Greek and foreign tourists had lodged thousands of complaints over the summer, citing profiteering and poor service in holiday destinations around the country.

Widespread profiteering and a low standard of service in the tourism industry accompanied by a lack of state inspection were the main grievances, which totalled 4,793 by August 31, a record high, the Institute of Consumers (INKA) said in a statement.

Domestic tourists also complained of being charged exorbitant rates in hotels against sharply lower rates paid by vistors from abroad on package holidays, the statement said.

The majority of gripes came under INKA's category of restaurants and tavernas (10.5 percent), followed by quality of products and services (9.7 percent).

Of total complaints, 77 percent were made by Greek tourists and 23 percent by foreign nationals.

In addition, the recipients of state-subsidised tourism for people on low incomes claimed they were treated as second-class guests by hoteliers.

Finally, INKA said more than one in three Greeks did not go on holiday at all while many who took a vacation shortened the duration of their stay due to financial problems.

Based on number of visitors and infrastructure, the areas topping the league of complaints were the prefectures of Iraklio (Crete), the Cyclades islands, Halkidiki, Corfu and Hania (Crete), the statement said.

[03] Weather Forecast: Mostly sunny on Friday

The weather will be sunny in most parts of the country on Friday, with scattered cloud in the west, north and eastern Aegean islands that may turn to showers or storms in the north. The weather will gradually improve from the west. Winds west-northwesterly, moderate to strong, likely to turn gale force at sea in the south. In the north, temperatures will range from 13C to 26C; on the rest of the mainland from 16C to 29C; and in the Aegean islands from 18C to 28C. Mainly sunny in Athens, with temperatures between 18C and 29C. Light cloud in Thessaloniki with temperatures from 16C to 26C.

[04] Greek stocks continue losing ground

Equity prices continued losing ground on the Athens Stock Exchange on Thursday, extending their decline for the seventh consecutive session, hit by a negative climate in other European bourses.

The general index, however, found short-term support at the 2,650 level despite the fact that the UK market plunged to its lowest levels in the last 34 months and the DAX-30 index in Frankfurt fell below 5,000 points.

The general index ended 0.42 percent lower at 2,669.70 points, off the day's lows of 2,651.17 points, raising its seven-session losses to 4.85 percent. It now stands more than 21.0 percent lower for the year.

Turnover was a low 135.59 million euros, or 46.2 billion drachmas.

The FTSE/ASE 20 index for blue chip and heavy traded stocks ended at 1,500.62 points, off 0.45 percent, the FTSE/ASE 40 index fell 0.46 percent to 290.16 points, and the Small Cap index ended at 854.42 points, down 1.16 percent.

The parallel market index for smaller capitalisation stocks ended at 257.48 points, off 1.14 percent.

Broadly, decliners led advancers by 267 to 62 with another 31 issues unchanged.

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