Corfu News

The announcement of several development projects by the Tourism Development Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos are putting in place revolutions that will boost tourism on Corfu.

Tourism Development Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos said that sea tourism in Corfu has a great margin for improvement, while on a visit to the Ionian island last weekend. Apart from the Gouvia marina, which has a capacity of 1,200 boats and is fully set up, the decision for a marina at Kefalomantouko was also taken on the spot. The marina is projected to host 98 mega-yachts. At Palaiokastritsa, the mooring spot of Alypas will be ready to host 103 boats by summer. With a capacity of 80 boats, the Korakofolia marina will be ready in December. While the land section at Benitses, costing 1.2 million euros was tendered in 2007, the port section has been completed.

At the historic Achillion site, Spiliotopoulos referred to the 7-million-euro project which to be completed in December. At a budget of a total 35 million euros the project package titled “Competitiveness” contains 12 projects for Corfu.

The minister said messages from other markets which have shown rises in bookings, such as those from Russia (50 percent), Switzerland (185 percent), Austria (20 percent), Romania (128 percent), Finland (80 percent) and Ireland (100 percent) are better than the messages from the UK market. With the continuing rise in the number of arrivals and nights of accommodation by Greeks on the island domestic tourism is also doing well,. The Greek National Tourism Organization seeks to use the listing of the old city of Corfu as a World Cultural Heritage site by the United Nations’ special committee to highlight Corfu’s cultural significance.