Athens: Metropolitan tourism center

With the success of Greek tourism last summer, The tourism ministry's efforts turn to Athens, in an attempt to turn the capital into the touristic spear fro the whole country. The idea was relayed by minister Olga Kefalogianni in the international conference “City tourism and urban development” held in Athens today.

The plan for turning Athens into a metropolitan tourism center aims at mobilizing all relevant state and private sectors. The minister noted that infrastructure launched in the last few years can become an ambassador for tourism. She pointed out the new National Library, the Opera House and the large environmental park.

Ms Kefalogianni also announced that next week Athens and Delphi will be hosting the conference of International Federation of Filmmakers. Athens mayor Giorgos Kaminis noted that all international studies show that the era of big cities is near, assisted by the contemporary urbanization trends around the world.

Estimates by the OECD are that by 2050, almost 70% of the world's population will be inhabiting urban areas. Meanwhile UNESCO released a study a few years ago, saying that by 2015 there will be 26 big cities with over 10 million inhabitants.