Athens News Agency: News in English, 08-11-18

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

CONTENTS

[01] AEK Athens, coach Dusan Bajevic in talks

[02] Athens hotels' occupancy rates down 5.9% in Sept.

[03] Greek banks healthy, association head says

[04] FM assails latest FYROM move

[05] Greek stocks end mixed on Tues.

[01] AEK Athens, coach Dusan Bajevic in talks

Bajevic, a noted Serbian striker during his playing days, became a naturalised Greek citizen and coached AEK on two previous occasions. He also played for AEK between 1979-1981.

In the event of a final agreement between the two sides, Bajevic will succeed George Donis, who agreed to step down from his post earlier this week following AEK's disappointing performance in the Super League so far.

[02] Athens hotels' occupancy rates down 5.9% in Sept.

A report by the Athens Hoteliers Association said that three-star hotels reported a 9.1 pct decline in occupancy rates in September to 69.9 pct, five-star and two-star hotels reported a 6.0 pct drop, while four-star hotels' occupancy rates eased 4.4 pct in the month.

Tourism Development Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos, addressing a general assembly of the Athens Hoteliers Association, stressed that hard work still needed from the state, the central government, local authorities and tourism enterprises to establish Athens into an international metropolitan centre.

Spiliotopoulos focused on the significance of promoting Athens as a city break destination and to develop as a final destination for travelers around the world. Athens offered a series of advantages, such as an upgraded and competitive hotel industry, creation of a large number of shopping centres, unification of archaeological sites, direct access to beaches, rich gastronomy, a hot night scene and important cultural events.

The minister said hotel prices were competitive, facilitating efforts to promote Athens as a final destination for tourists.

The Athens Hoteliers Association presented a survey showing that average occupancy rates in Athens hotels jumped from 62.2 pct in 2005 to 70.6 pct in 2007, reaching the European average rate, while average hotel prices in Attica rose from 105 euros in 2005 to 117 euros in 2007, compared with 117 and 130 euros in Europe, respectively.

[03] Greek banks healthy, association head says

Addressing a seminar in Athens, Gortsos said the domestic banking system was healthy and that no bank was found to be facing any solvency problems. He stressed, however, that the Greek banking system was indirectly hit by the serious negative repercussions related to the interbank market, which is practically frozen, particularly in long-term borrowing.

Gortsos said banks' borrowing costs have risen significantly over the last few months despite a cut in base interest rates by the European Central Bank, although he noted that lower rates in the Eurozone could signal a gradual decline in interbank interest rates.

[04] FM assails latest FYROM move

[05] Greek stocks end mixed on Tues.

The composite index of the market rose 0.17 pct to end at 1,925.20 points with turnover improving slightly to 192.4 million euros, of which 10.1 million were block trades.

Most sectors moved higher, with the Food/Beverage (4.99 pct), Utilities (4.90 pct) and Healthcare (4.72 pct) scoring the biggest percentage points while Banks (3.39 pct), Raw Materials (0.76 pct) and Insurance (0.72 pct) suffered losses.

The FTSE 20 index fell 0.58 pct, the FTSE 40 index rose 0.88 pct and the FTSE 80 index ended 1.02 pct down. Broadly, decliners led advancers by 126 to 101 with another 41 issues unchanged.

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