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One of the most influential businesswomen in the Middle East, Olayan, 58, runs Saudi Arabia’s Olayan Financing. The Middle East arm of the sprawling Olayan Group, it operates 40-plus companies across the region and is one of the biggest investors in local stock markets. Long a trailblazer, Olayan has pushed progressive business practices in the area; she joined the family business in 1983 when few corporate positions in Saudi were held by women. She was the first woman elected to a board position in the Kingdom, joining the Saudi Hollandi Bank in 2004, and became the first woman to deliver a keynote address at a major Saudi conference that same year. A member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, she is also on the Arab Business Council’s executive committee.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced a new arrangement to help passengers impacted by airline bankruptcy. A voluntary agreement on behalf of its members flying to, from and within Europe will cover the repatriation of passengers unable to return home due to an airline ceasing operations as a result of financial failure.

I am delighted to say that passengers left stranded in the rare and unfortunate event of an airline bankruptcy will be offered ‘rescue fares’ from airlines to ensure they can get home, “ said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO, speaking at a round-table meeting with journalists in Brussels on Tuesday. The agreement formalizes a long-standing custom that many airlines have traditionally offered in these rare instances.

Under the agreement, in the event of an airline bankruptcy, IATA member airlines flying to and from the EU will make their best efforts to offer repatriation to passengers stranded away from home. These passengers will be provided access to discounted transport to return home, subject to available capacity. The ‘rescue fares’ of a nominal amount will be available for purchase up to a maximum of two weeks after the event to anyone flying to and from or within Europe who does not already possess insurance covering this eventuality. States responsible for the licensing of the insolvent airline should also play their role in communicating to stranded passengers the possibility of this rescue service.

“This agreement on rescue fares shows that the airline industry is more determined than ever to ensure reliable and consistently excellent customer service. Airlines have formalized a unique cooperation agreement that puts passenger needs first,” said Tyler.

The European Commission has estimated that between 2011 and 2020, only 0.07% of all passengers could be affected by airline bankruptcy, and of them, only 12% would require assistance in getting home. A permanent statutory fund to aid passengers in such situations has been a topic of considerable discussion. The airline industry has opposed such a fund as financially prudent airlines would be subsidizing riskier airlines. More importantly, estimates of the bureaucracy needed to run the fund suggest that up to 85% of the money would be eaten up in administration.

“A compulsory levy on airlines to deal with repatriation would not serve anybody’s interest. We commend the European Commission for resisting this and for encouraging airlines to adopt this coordinated and customer-focused approach,” said Tyler.

Source: IATA.

This week Invest in Greece Agency participates in a mission to China within the framework of the official visit of representatives of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aimed at attracting investment and strengthening the business relations of the two countries.

The CEO of Invest in Greece Agency, Mr. Stephanos Issaias, visited Beijing to present Greece’s new investment environment and a portfolio of specific projects per investment sector, to Chinese investors during the investment seminar organised on Tuesday, November 27, by the Embassy of Greece in Beijing in collaboration with the Chinese Ministry of Trade and the Lazard Bank China. The visit of Mr. Issaias was complemented with a series of prescheduled one-on-one meetings in light of the fact that new, as well as already existing Chinese companies, have expressed their undiminished interest in doing business in Greece. During the meetings, key questions regarding the economic stability and competitiveness of Greece were answered.

Yesterday, Thursday November 29, the mission visited Shanghai, where the Greek Consulate, in collaboration with the media organisation 21st Century Media organised a two-day investment seminar to be completed tomorrow. The event is highly successful.  During his keynote speech, Mr. Issaias, addressing the investment audience, as well as journalists, analysed the reasons that Greece is an important investment destination for China. He also presented a number of structural measures and legal instruments that support investment in sectors such as energy, food and beverage, tourism, and real estate.

Based on this seminar, 21st Century Media has published a wealth of material on Greece and its investment opportunities under the title “The right time to invest in Greece?” on the popularChinese economic news website.

“Our joint visit to China with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shows that Greece plans to attract investment in a coordinated manner and targets strategic areas with major investment capital outflows, and also gives us the opportunity to directly contact companies, either to provide them with the significant service of the after sales support of Invest in Greece or to invite them to include our country in their investment agenda. According to estimations of Chinese officials, the export of investment capital from China will balance the corresponding import in the next five years. Greece has already been proven to be a profitable investment destination for several Chinese companies. We are here to garner support for what we believe should be the part of Chinese investment capital attributable to Greece based on its comparative advantages.”, the CEO of Invest in Greece Agency, Mr. Stephanos Issaias, said in his interview on the Phoenix TV network of Shanghai.

China – a global power
China is a rapidly growing economy that not only has a huge export activity, but has also begun to invest large-scale capital abroad. The “Going Global” initiative of the Chinese government, to support Chinese companies to invest abroad, provides a vital framework for further cooperation between Greece and China. In the following years, investment inflows could follow the trend of the trade transactions between the two countries, which almost quadrupled in the last 10 years (from €790 million in 2000 to €3.025 billion in 2010).

Despite the international economic downturn, the Chinese economy continued to grow impressively. In 2010, China became the largest exporter worldwide. In 2011 FDI Outflows from China to all countries totaled $146.7 billion [China (excluding Hong Kong): $65.1 billion, Hong Kong: $81.6 billion, Source: UNCTAD, World Investment Report 2012].

Greece is China’s main gateway to Europe and bonds of friendship and mutual respect for the history and culture of the two civilizations unite the two nations.

Η ειδική αυτή σήμανση θα ακολουθεί την έκδοση του Ειδικού Σήματος Λειτουργίας του καταλύματος.

Επιπλέον θεσμοθετείται η αρμοδιότητα έκδοσης και χορήγησης της σήμανσης στον Σύνδεσμο Ελληνικών Τουριστικών Επιχειρήσεων (ΣΕΤΕ).

Τέλος, επιβάλλεται από τα αρμόδια όργανα του Υπουργείου Τουρισμού πρόστιμο ύψους 1.000 (χιλίων) ευρώ ανά τουριστικό κατάλυμα σε περίπτωση μη συμμόρφωσης του φορέα επιχείρησης που εκμεταλλεύεται τουριστικό κατάλυμα στην υποχρέωση επικόλλησης σε κάθε δωμάτιο του ειδικού θεωρημένου αυτοκόλλητου.

Nov 11, 2014

Spanish low-cost carrier Volotea announced it will be using Athens International Airport as a hub as of spring, when it will start operating scheduled flights from the Greek capital to four destinations in Italy and even a domestic service.

Volotea chief executive Carlos Munoz stated in Athens that the airline will fly from Athens to Venice, Bari, Palermo and Pisa as well as to Santorini, starting from April.

The airline has been operating charter flights to 10 Greek airports since 2012, has brought over 190,000 passengers and is also planning to expand to the airports of Thessaloniki and Zakynthos.

source: ekathomerini

EIBTM, the leading global event for the meetings and events industry, has announced the Top 10 Innovations showcased in this year’s specially designated area of the Innovation Zone. The companies were chosen from those who applied to showcase technological, social or design innovations demonstrating revolutionary solutions, applications and the very latest technologies that can transform the meetings, events and business tourism industry.

The Top 10 Innovations appearing this year are:

Tech Watch winner Live Group ‘IPS Locator Function’, a dedicated App intended to transform the communications experience for event and meeting planners, by enabling delegates to position themselves, locate others and find specific areas on an interactive floor plan.

Sli.do (www.sli.do), an audience engagement platform for live events that makes it easy for anyone in the audience to ask questions and vote on live polls via their devices.

Social Tables, the industry’s leading provider of cloud-based hospitality software that positions venues to work more collaboratively and efficiently with their event and meetings customers.

Time2®which will be conducting live demonstrations of its web-based event networking solution, which enablesprofessionals at event or on the move to connect more efficiently and increase their networking opportunities.

DPA Microphones, which will present its new d:screet™ Necklace Microphone.

Lemon & Orange which provides augmented reality based solutions for mobile devices, websites and big screens as well as interactive applications.

The Top 10 Innovations also include new product launches:

Centium Software’s EventsAir, which is a cloud-based, cutting-edge solution for event and meeting professionals that provides a robust environment that leverages its cloud architecture for all types of events, conferences, tradeshows and meetings offering tools such as mobile apps, real-time run sheets, budget forecasting, reporting, analytics and much more.

• Init Live, which takes a mobile-first approach to managing the team on the ground. The cloud-based system includes a web service and a free mobile device app. It equips event planners, event staff and volunteers with a real-time communication system and a comprehensive scheduling service.
• Showslice, which is an online platform where organizers of large meetings and events can communicate their upcoming event requirements with each other in order to connect, coordinate and share some of the infrastructure costs back-to-back at one venue, introducing the concept of sharing economy to the meetings and events industry.
• Slidebox which provides IT services for speakers to manage their presentations and share their knowledge with their audience.

This year, the EIBTM Innovation Zone has been re-designed with a new look and feel. One of the new features includes Innovation in Action – a multimedia showcase of leading meetings industry innovations as they are applied in real situations, providing global suppliers such as hotels or venues, the opportunity to present case studies around their innovative solutions to enhance the event participants’ experience and move the industry forward. NH Hotels, Marriott Hotels, Artexis and Hyatt Regency Paris Charles de Gaulle are moving the meetings and events forward with their innovative solutions and will show how they have implemented innovation to provide new solutions to customers in this special area.

The Innovation Zone is also bringing back the Genius Zone, sponsored by DoubleDutch, where everyone can dive into the world of event mobile application, receiving inside knowledge through live demonstrations and one-to-one information sessions.

Source:- EIBTM

Sabre Corporation is developing travel services that work across the emerging spectrum of wearable technology including smartwatches and Google Glass, preparing for the dramatic impact wearables will have on the way consumers shop for and experience travel.

Researchers expect a large proportion of the population to embrace wearable computing in the near future as evidenced by the adoption trajectory of other technology advances like the smart phone and tablets. Juniper Research forecasts that worldwide spending on wearable technology will hit $1.4 billion this year and will reach $19 billion by 2018. Further, wearable computing is already expanding beyond the early adopters and quickly becoming more mainstream, according to International Data Corporation (IDC). The research firm estimates that more than 19 million wearable computing devices will be sold in 2014, and forecasts the global market to reach 111.9 million units in 2018.

TripCase, Sabre’s leading travel itinerary management app, is the first travel app of its kind to integrate with the highly-anticipated Samsung Gear S smartwatch, launched Nov. 7 in the US market. The integration allows the traveler to click the notification on the watch to open the TripCase app to the relevant place on the mobile device, and will include a click-to-call feature next month. In addition, consumers using Android Wear devices and the Pebble and Pebble Steel watches can receive TripCase travel notifications directly to their wearable devices.

TripCase users wearing these smart devices will receive real-time flight alerts, gate changes and other travel information conveniently on their wrists at a time when minute counts. This initial integration lays the ground work for more advanced TripCase services to be accessible on wearable technology in the future. TripCase is on pace to manage more than 25 million trips in 2014.

“As the adoption of wearable technology grows, we want to ensure that the travel industry is ready to leverage this technology and serve travelers on the device they prefer,” said John Samuel, senior vice president of Sabre Travelers Solutions. “Wearable technology is fast becoming a prominent means of customer notification and communication. We’re looking to take it even further – from a one-way means of communications to an interactive, on-the-go service experience,” said Samuel.

Sabre recently showcased its Google Glass prototype travel app at the World Travel Market in London. The app can find a flight based on a user’s simple voice command, for example: “Ok Glass, Find a Flight from London Heathrow to Miami in June.”

“Wearable technologies – such as smartwatches and heads-up devices like Google Glass – will forever change the way consumers experience travel – from shopping via virtual reality to voice command recommendation,” continued Samuel. “Creating these full service experiences require not just smart devices but also more precise location services and smart recommendation services.”

Sabre Labs, the technology incubator and research lab at Sabre, continues to explore the application of geo-location technologies and their application to wearable devices in the travel experience. Understanding a traveler’s precise indoor location and developing services that use that context to share information and interactions on wearables will be a critical piece in creating a more intuitive experience for travelers.