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ECONOMY
-In 2024, the business sector in Greece can increase its sales by about 3.5%, reaching 6.5% in H2 (compared to +0.9% in H1), according to a study by the National Bank’s Economic Analysis Directorate.
-Greece still has the highest ratio of government debt to GDP (159.8%) among Eurozone member-states at the end of the first quarter of 2024, followed by Italy (137.7%), France (110.8%), Spain (108.9%), Belgium (108.2%) and Portugal (100.4%). The lowest were recorded in Bulgaria (22.6%), Estonia (23.6%) and Luxembourg (27.2%), Eurostat data showed.
REAL ESTATE
Greece’s Council of State (CoS), the country’s highest administrative court, sided with the city of Athens last week in its bid to maintain current building height co-efficients in the municipality. A permanent decision over building co-efficients is pending by the central government, To Vima reported.
GENERAL
Greece has experienced 33 wildfires in the past 24 hours, according to the Fire Service. Of these, 30 were contained in their initial stages, while firefighters are still battling three ongoing blazes, AMNA reported.
TOURISM
-Greeks have begun their holidays. Over the past three weeks, 360,000 persons have already left Athens through Piraeus port, with ships leaving at or near capacity, according to reports at MEGA TV.
-During May 2024, arrivals in tourist accommodation establishments amounted to 3,754,414 and nights spent amounted to 15,012,287, recording an increase of 3.4% in arrivals and of 4.6% in nights spent when compared to the corresponding month of 2023, ELSTAT data showed. The highest contribution in both arrivals and nights spent for the total of tourist accommodation establishments was observed for non-residents with 81.4% and 89.7%, accordingly. The average length of stay for all types of tourist accommodation establishments amounted to 4.0 days.
-The port of Heraklion in Crete is expected to record rather high numbers in terms of cruises, reaching 430 cruise ships and 450,000 passengers by the end of the year, Naftemporiki reported citing the CEO of the Heraklion Port Authority, Mina Papadakis.
