Elia Live Cam

It’s the time for sailing, water sports and everything the Greek summer has to offer. Beach bars, elegant towns and seaside resorts for evening entertainment and shopping. Explore antiquities to your heart’s content and attend concerts and plays in ancient amphitheatres and castles from June through to September.

You’ll share the locals’ excitement at traditional church fairs and village festivals, and taste their foods. Greece in summer is an open-air fiesta: everyone’s welcome to join in the fun.

Unforgettable summer holidays - For three months Greece is perhaps the most enviable holiday destination on the planet. From June to the end of August it’s as if the country were transformed into a giant magnet, pulling in millions of people from all corners of the globe. Most visitors are searching for their own perfect beach, their own secret and unforgettable holiday spot. The Aegean islands rank highest on their lists, topped by Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes and Cos, followed by Paros, Amorgos, Milos and Ios.

But the Ionian islands have their fans too: cosmopolitan Corfu, Lefkas with its five-star beaches, Zakynthos and Paxi with their incomparable waters. And don’t forget Crete and its own famous beaches: Balos, Falasarna, Elafonisi, Vai of the palm forest. Beaches ring the Peloponnese – think of Voidokilia and Elafonissos. They stretch up the coastline of Epirus from Preveza to Parga and beyond, as well as up the east coast from Katerini to Platamona, while lining the ‘legs’ of Halkidiki. Beaches for every taste: sophisticated and fully organised, pristine and secluded, sandy or pebbly.

Tourism as an economic and social activity had not been a subject for regulation in the EEC Treaty. For that reason, Tourism has been lacking so far a "common policy on tourism" which, among other things, would result in developing Community regulations on purely tourism matters.

Still, the need for the then EEC to deal with Tourism has been realized in time by the Member States, all the more in view of running the Common Market, for which Tourism was earmarked as an important area.

Therefore, for the first time in 1984, the Council has stressed by a resolution (EEC 115, 30/4/84) the need for consultation between the Commission and the Member States on tourism matters, while in 1986, by its decision (86/664/EEC) has established a cooperation procedure in the field of Tourism in order to facilitate exchange of information, consultation and eventually cooperation in the field of Tourism, particularly in rendering services to the tourists, on the basis of Article 235 of the EEC Treaty (unanimous decisions).

In 1988 (Greek presidency of the Community), the first informal Meeting (Council) of Tourism Ministers has been convened.

The Council by its decision has proclaimed the year 1990 as "The European Year of Tourism". The objective of that initiative was to exploit the integrating and economic role of Tourism in the creation of the Common Market, to stimulate tourism within the borders of the -then- EEC, to improve the distribution of the tourist flow in time, to promote alternative forms of tourism etc.

The Maastricht Treaty for the European Union was complementary to the provision 3 of the EEC Treaty as to the common action needed for the achievement of the goals set by the Community, adding Tourism to the potential areas of Community action, something which certainly entails a lot more common action and intervention in the European tourism market. However, in the review of the Treaty in 1997, a Community policy on Tourism has not been adopted.

The tourism industry is eventually the only element ("pillar", according to the Commission) of the Tourist Sector, which is not protected by a Community policy, since the other two elements (the Environment and the Consumer) are subject to protection by specific Community policies.

The lack of providing a Community policy on the one hand leaves Tourism uncovered against the consequences of implementing measures enforced by the other Community policies (particularly the increase of operating costs in the Tourism industry, resulting from the implementation of the other policies) and on the other denies it the potential to profit from the adoption of specific legislative measures which would favor the European Tourism Industry.

As it is reasonable, there is plenty of regulations in the Community law which indirectly affect Tourism (without being purely "tourism-related"), as for example those in relation to the free movement of capital, the free installation of workers, the transportation (overland, maritime, air transport), the environment etc.

As to the purely "tourism-related" Community texts, that is the texts dealing directly with the field of Tourism, even though dictated by (other) Community policies or ascertained needs, there have to be mentioned:

The Council Recommendation on standardization of information in the hotels;

The Council Recommendation on Safety in the hotels;

The Directive 90/314/EEC on package traveling, including the organized vacations and sightseeing.

This Directive provides ample information to the tourist consumer as to the elements consisting an organized trip (transportation, accommodation, meals, itineraries etc.) with no deceptive indications; regulates subjects concerning the contract between the organizer or the salesperson and the consumer (prices, replacement of the consumer with another person, cases of withdrawal and compensation of the consumer for reasons of modifying essential elements of the trip, cancellation of the trip etc.); and establishes the existence of adequate guarantees in favor of the organizer so that in case of insolvency or bankruptcy to secure reimbursement of the expenses and repatriation of the consumer. The harmonization of the Greek law to this Directive has been achieved by the Presidential Decree 339/96.

The Directive 94/47 on the protection of the purchasers regarding some aspects of the contracts, concerning the obtaining of the right to use real property under the status of time sharing.

The harmonization of the Greek law to this Directive has been achieved recently by the Presidential Decree 182/99.

The Directive 98/57/EC on the collection of statistical data regarding the area of Tourism.

Other Community measures affecting Tourism indirectly are for example:

The social Protocol that came into effect since 1/1/93 and according to which the Community ought from now on to consult the social partners before submitting proposals on the field of social policy.

The Commission Recommendation on the protection of men and women's dignity at work (which is accompanied by a Code of Measures for coping with sexual harassment).

The modification of the Directive 75/129 on the convergence of the national laws regarding the massive layoffs.

The Directive on the signs of safety and health at the workplace.

The Decision on prohibition of smoking at public places.

The Directives 84/360/EEC, 85/337/EEC on the works and activities affecting the environment and the more recent 97/11/EC, which are dictated by the Environmental Policy of the EU and have an indirect, still important impact on Tourism.