Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-10-18

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

CONTENTS

[01] Competition in tourism calls for differentiated product, development minister says

[02] Army chief to visit Heidelberg

[03] Digital strategy promotion

[04] European Left conference in Athens

[05] Profile of PC, cellphone users

[01] Competition in tourism calls for differentiated product, development minister says

As competition in the sector intensifies, "it becomes necessary for the tourism industry to restructure and to continuously adapt itself [to changing conditions], to capitalise on new technologies, IT and communication so that it can directly target specific market segments," he said.

The ministry is helping hoteliers and others who rent rooms and apartments to set up an electronic network by providing funding through the Competitiveness programme, Sioufas said.

Similar funding is also available through the new development law and the entrepreneurial programme "Information Society", he added.

Sioufas praised the government for its initiatives in the tourism sector, noting the increase in tourist arrivals and generated revenue achieved in 2005.

According to the minister, tourist arrivals were up 8% during the first seven months of 2005 compared with the same period in 2004, while revenue was up approximately 10%.

Sioufas also noted that after the successful staging of the Athens Olympics, the Greek capital will be hosting the European Corporate Games next month.

Finally, he said that 42.5% of investment plans already approved by the finance ministry concern the tourism industry.

[02] Army chief to visit Heidelberg

Douvas, along with his counterparts of European countries, will attend the 13th annual conference organised by the US Army, on the theme "The Armed Forces' role in confronting terrorism".

[03] Digital strategy promotion

Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, presenting his plans, stressed that the government was rapidly moving towards creating five large development regions and noted that a draft legislation would be unveiled in the next few days. Pavlopoulos underlined that the new legislation would not undermine the independence of local authorities, nor of administrative regions in the country, and said the previous government had made no preparatory work for the country to deal with the challenges of a Fourth Community Support Framework.

Economy and Finance Minister George Alogoskoufis said many things have to change and stressed emphasis would be given to boost competitiveness, digital growth and protecting the environment.

Commenting on an Information Society programme, Pavlopoulos said the Prime Minister has given particular emphasis on the project and said that more projects would have been included in the programme during the 18 months of the new government than in the previous four years.

Alogoskoufis stressed that the programme would help create a more citizen-friendly state and a more competitive economy, adding that the government was seeking to boost the country's digital strategy. The Greek minister said a bird flu epidemic was mainly an issue relating with public health and stressed that any financial impact would be limited.

[04] European Left conference in Athens

As stated in a press conference on Monday by Synaspismos leader Alekos Alavanos, "the effort to unify the activity of the European Left is an extremely original political attempt."

Alavanos added that the principles, policies and actions of the Party of the European Left "are orientated towards an economic policy which is capable of stopping social decline."

[05] Profile of PC, cellphone users

According to the survey, the main reason for use of the Internet (98 percent) is to seek information and on-line services, such as seeking products and services, travel, and reading newspapers and periodicals.

Some 13 percent of Internet users were found to purchase or sell products or services or conduct online banking and other financial transactions, while the proportion of users conducting electronic transactions with public services reaches 32 percent.

The main reasons for non-use of the Internet were cited as being lack of usefullness of information techonology and inability to use the Internet.

The percentage of purchases via Internet remains at a low level in Greece (6.6 percent), although the percentage was 2.7 percentage points higher than in 2004.

The fact that the Internet is not widely used for purchases of products or services is attributed to differing consumer habits, but also to the lack of security in on-line purchases.

The survey was conducted by telephone among a sampling of 4,485 randomly chosen individuals aged 16 to 74, from an equal number of households.

The survey further shoed that 76 percent of housewives stated that they had and used a cell phone during the current year; 52 percent of cell phone users send written messages (SMS) on a daily or almost daily basis; 32 percent spend an average of 29 minutes per month talking on their cell phone, while 26 percent spend an average 30-60 minutes per month on their cell phone; 22 percent of households have Internet access from their homes; and 34 percent of households have a PC, up from 29 percent in 2004.

Also, according to the survey, 29 percent of the Greek population used a PC in the first quarter of 2005.

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