Athens 2004 - Accommodation: The
Olympic Challenge
Pressing hospitality needs during the 2004 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Greece has always been famous for welcoming visitors from around the world.
The Olympic Games organisers, Athens 2004 Organising Committee for the Olympic Games
(ATHOC), is continuing this tradition of hospitality by contributing to the development of a vast network of hotels and accommodation facilities ready to meet the needs of every visitor.
ATHOC has signed contracts with hoteliers in the capital to make 17,200
rooms available for the period July 10th - September 10th, 2004. These
will house members of the so-called 'Olympic Family' -- International
Olympic Committee (IOC) officials, National Olympic Committee (NOC)
officials, representatives of national sports federations, sponsors and
their guests. In addition, 11 cruise ships with 6,000 beds have been
booked to berth at Piraeus for the duration. ATHOC will command 2,500 of
the beds, including all the accommodation on board the new luxury cruise
ship the Queen Mary II (still under construction at the Chantiers yard in
France) which will serve as a floating hotel in Greece before being
commissioned on her working career.
This accounts for 48,700 out of the total number of people expected in
Athens in the year of the Games. A number of 23,000 rooms is expected to be
used -- 3,000 of which will be cruise ship cabins. Another 3,000 technical
officials will be housed in 18 dormitory sites in student residences,
military schools and various foundation residences. Seven media villages
are scheduled to house the expected 10,000-11,000 journalists. These will
be apartments and maisonettes that will be handed over to Athens 2004 for
the Games and then go on the open market (see below).
Mr. Spyros Pappas,
Accommodation Manager, Athens 2004 Organising Committee for the Olympic
Games (ATHOC), says that the 11 cruise ships booked are the maximum that
can be berthed in Piraeus at temporary facilities being established near
the mouth of the harbour. If necessary, he says, more vessels could be
booked and berthed at other Attica ports such as Lavrion.
The Olympic and Paralympic Village is located at the foot of Parnitha, a mountain situated in the Municipality of Acharnes, close to the centre of Athens and covers an area of 1,240 square metres. The project incorporates bioclimatic designs to maintain average temperature three degrees cooler, and incorporates
environmentally-friendly building materials. The 16,000 athletes and trainers
will be housed in the Olympic Village during the Olympic Games, while 6,000 athletes
will be housed
during the Paralympic Games. The Village has two basic zones, as far as security and accreditation issues are concerned:
one Residential Zone and an International Zone.
The Olympic Village also includes outdoor sporting facilities (30,000 square metres), indoor halls (3,000 square metres), public utility buildings (80,000 square metres) including schools, children day care, fire brigade, and 310,000 square metres of paved roads to be used either for the International or the Residential Zone.
At the Olympic Village, organisers said they will build 26 activities centres, an Internet cafe and set up an internal transport centre. Olympic Village
2004 SA is expected to deliver this project to ATHOC by February 2004.
ATHOC has been working closely with the Greek
government to design and implement a transportation strategy able to meet the challenge of the Olympic Games. The
plan combines the increased capacities of major highway projects already underway, telematic systems, new metro line extensions, suburban rail and a light rail system. After
the Games, 10,000 people will move into their new homes Mr. Athanassios (Thanassis) Asimakopoulos is
President of the Worker's Housing Organisation (OEK), Greece's state organisation for labour housing which finances the Olympic and Paralympic Village
project. OEK is the sole shareholder of Olympic Village 2004 SA.
After the Games, the housing complex will be
transferred to OEK's so-called "beneficiaries," creating a town
of 10,000 inhabitants. Sources:
Hellenic Ministry of Press and Mass Media,
Business File, a
survey of the Greek tourism industry by Mr. Robert McDonald ("The
Olympic Challenge," pages 28-29, no. 47, March 2003), AP.
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Athens
2004 Accommodation Launch Pad
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Are
you thinking of renting a fully-furnished apartment or house during the
Olympics or Paralympic Games in 2004?
Feel at home in your own apartment in Greece:
If you are thinking of renting an apartment, house or yacht during the Athens
2004 Olympic Games or Paralympic Games, look no further!
INV International has a wide variety of
fully-furnished apartments on offer, which Athenians are prepared to
sublet to foreign visitors. There are many beautiful apartments
and houses to choose from! Click here
to view examples of homes away from home that you can rent during the
Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
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Sublet
your home during the 2004 Olympics:
The organisers of the Athens 2004 Olympics hope many Athenians will
agree to sublet their homes to visitors arriving for the Games on
package tours. If you have residential space --
an apartment, a house or a yacht -- available to rent for the 2004 Olympic Games in
the greater Athens area (Attica), on the islands close to Piraeus, in
neighbouring areas of Attica (Loutraki, Halkis, etc.), Patra, Thessaloniki,
Heraklio (Crete) or Volos, please contact
us.
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Athens
2004 Private House Rental Programme:
The two Official Contractor Bodies for the management of the
Athens 2004 Private House Rental Programme are:
A) The joint venture Alpha Philoxenia 2004 [Alpha Hospitality 2004], in which those taking part are:
Alpha Astika Akinita
SA, Epathlon SA, ELPA-ALTIS SA, and B) The joint venture
Elliniki Philoxenia [Hellenic Hospitality], in which those taking part are: EFG Eurobank Properties
SA, Elliniki Taxidiotiki Anonymi Touristiki Etairia (Hellenic Travel Tourist Society SA) and Mr. Georgios
Kourmouzis. Alpha Astika Akinita is a member of the
Alpha Bank Group,
while EFG Eurobank Properties is a subsidiary of EFG Eurobank Ergasias operating in the real estate
sector.
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Matt Barrett's Athens 2004 Olympics Page:
Where do you put a million visitors in a city that has hotel space for maybe a hundred thousand of them? Already there are renovation projects in Athens and some old hotels whose doors have been closed for years are not only getting face-lifts but are being completely modernised. There are plans to rent a number of cruise ships and use them as floating hotels in Faliron with shuttle connections to the Athens Metro for access to events. There are people combing the city looking for Athenians eager to rent their houses and apartments to make in a couple weeks the kind of money it takes a year for some to earn... There should be plenty of houses and apartments available in August when most Athenians go to the islands or to their villages. As for hotels on nearby islands, bookings will have to be made well in advance because this is a time when they are full with or without the Olympics.
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Athens hotels: Front-runners in 2004 race -- Renovation fever and major investment fuel change in
accommodation sector:
Backed by almost half a century of experience in hosting international visitors, as well as the Greek reputation for hospitality, major hotel chains and medium-to-small size units in the Greek capital have embarked on extensive upgrades and long-term renovation programmes in preparation for the Athens 2004 Olympics.
(Greece Now.)
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Olympic cities -- Thessaloniki,
Volos, Patra, Heraklio (Crete):
The first Olympic snapshots will actually be transmitted to the world not from Athens, but from the four Olympic cities -- Thessaloniki,
Volos, Patra and Heraklio -- that will host the preliminary rounds of the Football Tournament, which starts on August
11th, 2004 (two days before the Opening Ceremony).
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Hyatt Regency Thessaloniki
-- Official Hotel for the 2004 Olympic Games in Thessaloniki
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Porto
Rio Hotel -- Official Hotel for the 2004 Olympic Games in Patra
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Capsis
Beach Hotel & Sofitel Capsis Palace -- Official Hotel for the 2004
Olympic Games Football Tournaments in Heraklio (Crete)
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Municipality of
Volos:
The city of Volos is situated at the centre of the Greek mainland, at an approximately equal distance from the country's two main urban centres, Athens and Thessaloniki. Built at the innermost point of the Pagasetic Gulf and at the foot of Mount Pelion, it is the only outlet towards the sea from Thessaly, the country's largest agricultural region.
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An
'Olympic' challenge for hospitality sector:
More luxury and first class hotel accommodations are the rallying cry in light of Athens' assumption of the 2004 Games.
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Matt
Barrett's Hotels in Athens
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Athens organisers hope to rent 3,000 homes:
Organisers hope to rent at least 3,000 private residences to visitors for the 2004 Olympics, but the expected prices might disappoint those anticipating big profits. Nearly all the city's best hotel rooms and several cruise ships are set aside for the
'Olympic family,' which includes sports federation members and sponsors... The consortium officials foresee average prices of about
USD 29.40 to USD 34.30 a day for each bedroom. The costs for luxury accommodations near venues could be considerably higher. Organisers said the Olympic rentals will start from July 10th, 2004 to
September 10th, 2004. The time limit of renting is at least three days and no more than two months.
(AP, December 2nd, 2002.)
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Full speed ahead: Piraeus port is being revamped in time for the Olympic Games and the 2004 accommodation riddle
(Greece Now)
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Queen Mary 2 chartered by Athens 2004 Olympic Games Organisers:
It's official. Cunard Line's new flagship Queen Mary 2 -- the largest, longest, tallest, widest and most expensive passenger liner ever -- will be positioned in the Greek port of Piraeus to serve as a floating hotel for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
(Cunard Line press release, January 27th, 2003.)
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Cruise Lines in Greece
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The
Hellenic Yachting Server
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A1 Yacht Trade Consortium SA:
A yacht can offer accommodation during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games as well as a natural extension after the Games, sailing the islands and enjoying the natural beauties of Greece firsthand.
One of A1 Yacht Trade Consortium's directors is Mr. George
A. Zaimis, Olympic gold medallist in the Dragon
Class in the XVII Games in 1960
(Rome - Naples). He is also one of the Vice-Presidents (Sailing) of the Hellenic Olympians
Association (HOA).
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The Athens Institute of Sailing -- Learn to Sail Courses in Greece:
Learn to sail the enchanting waters of Greece -- without compromises. Azure Yachting International is an American Sailing Association certified and affiliated sailing training facility in Greece. This is where first-class sailing courses are taught on safe and meticulously maintained quality yachts in the most ideal cruising grounds/archipelago in the world: Greece.
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Last updated: April 3rd, 2004.
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