Finland ?

Ο Διευθυντής του ΕΟΤ Φινλανδίας κ. Ευάγγελος Πατούχας, ο οποίος κάνει διακοπές στον Άγιο Νικόλαο, επισκέφθηκε χθες το Δήμαρχο Αγίου Νικολάου κ. Δημήτρη Κουνενάκη, με τον οποίο είχε συναντηθεί πριν λίγο καιρό και στο γραφείο του στη Φινλανδία.
Ο κ. Πατούχας έκανε αρκετές θετικές αναφορές για την περιοχή μας και ιδιαίτερα για την καθαριότητα της πόλης μας καθώς και πολλές άλλες χρήσιμες παρατηρήσεις. Επίσης επεσήμανε ότι το γραφείο του ΕΟΤ στη Φινλανδία αποτελεί ένα πολύτιμο συνδετικό κρίκο για την ανάδειξη του τουριστικού προϊόντος του τόπου μας και θα πρέπει ο Δήμος μας να βρίσκεται σε συνεχή επικοινωνία μαζί του.
Ο Δήμαρχος ενημέρωσε τον κ. Πατούχα για το Σχέδιο Τουριστικής Ανάπτυξης της περιοχής μας, για τη μελέτη ηλεκτροφωτισμού της Σπιναλόγκας καθώς και για άλλα θέματα. Στον κ. Πατούχα ευχήθηκε καλές διακοπές και του προσέφερε ενημερωτικά έντυπα και υλικό για την ιστορία και τα αξιοθέατα του Δήμου Αγίου Νικολάου.

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It may interest the Mayor to know that we have NO Finnish tourism in this area. They moved to Xania years ago.....

When was the last time you met a Finn in Agios Nikolaos ? (apart from the ones that are residents)

This man is responsible for getting Greek (and other) tourists into Finland, not for getting Finnish tourists to come here.

And I bet he was enthralled to be told of the plans for electricity in Spinalonga. What a great way to spend your holiday.

And finally .............

Does even one day pass without our local newspaper carrying a picture of Kounenakis? Perhaps we could suggest a "Kounenakis free day" to ΑΝΑΤΟΛΗ? Or does the photographer just follow him around all day until he does something?

Website design

Jesus Christ!

The new website is going to be under the domain name http://www.dimosagn.gr/ ?????????????

Clue:

If you want people to find the site, use the old domain name of http://www.agiosnikolaos.gr/

And don't use Joomla. It is designed for blogs, not websites.

Who is running this town?

Or IS anybody actually running it?

XL and Kosmar

One of the largest collapses in the last few decades has left 85,000 people stranded and 200,000 people who have booked their holidays in advance with little or no hope of recovering their money. Whilst exercising a huge Public Relations initiative, TUI and Thomas Cook have seen their share value rise by up to 7%. Feigning concern, whilst utilising the opportunity to charge "ticket tout" prices for flights to the U.K, and capitalising on the misfortune of those affected to frighten people away from independent travel (in cooperation with the outdated ABTA, which is all but controlled by the large tour operators), they are acting in a disgraceful and unethical fashion.

The CAA is doing a sterling job and should be congratulated for their professionalism, which I experienced personally last night. But how did XL get away with selling unbonded flights via their website? Surely the implication of an ATOL protected carrier should have carried warnings regarding the lack of security for those booking direct, rather than via Freedom Flights?

Everyone in the travel industry knew that XL/Kosmar were going under 2 weeks ago. If TUI and Thomas Cook really cared (and my guess is they didn't), why were there no warnings? Simple. Like I said, have a look at their share prices.

Kosmar had only a few properties in Agios Nikolaos. Olympic Holidays might be the next company to go under, and if that happens, we will regret the lack of vision and forward planning at ΔΕΤΑΔΑΝ for many, many years. We have to plan for the future and research and develop new, richer, markets. Something that should have been done five years ago.

I spoke today with a bar owner who always has many returning customers in September. 50% of them have telephoned him to explain that their holiday has been cancelled because their flights were with XL.

It is almost too late now to save our tourism for 2009. When will somebody in authority listen and take some action? Most of the tourist apartments are up for sale, so are the bars and restaurants. Can no-one at the Dimos see what is happening?

Before it really is too late for the town.............

Missing link

Want to see a tour of Agios Nikolaos?

Click on http://www.iam-360.com/demo/TOURS/Ag-Nikolaos/index.htm link from www.aghiosnikolaos.gr and www.dimosagn.gr

Another fantastic piece of work by the amateurs who are responsible for our tourism .........

Wedding

Last night no-one could pass along Akti Koundourou near the Hermes Hotel. There was a wedding and the port police were watching as the guest's cars blocked both sides of the road.

No tickets were written on these cars - why!!!!??????

One law for some people, and another law for the others .....