Tourism in Greece

The Athens & Epidaurus Festival, Greece's biggest annual cultural event, has announced its program for the summer of 2023 and it's packed with amazing shows by local and foreign companies and acts. The festival is spread out across the stunning Herod Atticus Theater, the cool Pireos 260 theater complex and the spectacular Ancient Theater of Epidaurus, among other venues.

The Posidonia Sea Tourism Forum is opening its doors on Tuesday, taking place for the first time in Thessaloniki.

The biennial two-day conference and exhibition on all things cruise tourism is being held at the Makedonia Palace Hotel, bringing together top executives from the global cruise industry to discuss challenges and opportunities of the cruise sector in the East Med.

The Culture Ministry announced on Wednesday that the studies for the restoration works that will be carried out inside the Castle of Zakynthos to preserve and promote the buildings of the eras of Venetian and British rule have been approved by the Central Antiquities Council.

Michel Demopoulos, the former Thessaloniki Film Festival Director credited with its wide revamp and success, died on Wednesday, aged 73. He had been suffering from an undisclosed illness recently, reports said.

The 2030 regional development plan for the Ionian islands includes over 260 projects budgeted at 1.3 billion euros, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Corfu on Wednesday. 

He noted that funds for the program will come from the EU's NSRF, the Public Investments Program, the "Antonis Tritsis" program and the Recovery Fund. 

The Samaria Gorge on the island of Crete will be ready to welcome visitors in May as the maintenance and restoration works of its main path have started, local authorities said on Tuesday. 

The work is being implemented by the Management Unit of Samaria National Park and Protected Areas of Western Crete of the Natural Environment & Climate Change Agency (NECCA). 

Three men suspected of a robbery spree against churches on the Ionian island of Kefalonia were arrested on Monday at the western Greek port of Killini, the Hellenic Police said in an announcement on Tuesday.

An Intercity train traveling from Athens to Thessaloniki on Sunday experienced a power outage, causing it to come to a sudden stop just outside the city of Larissa in central Greece. 

The incident caused unrest among the passengers as the lights went out.

A 61-year-old man was arrested in the northern port city of Thessaloniki at the weekend over the theft of antiquities including a number of ancient coins and two ceramic vases that fall under the protective provisions of the legislation on the protection of antiquities.

Expressing its deep concern "about the destruction of its cultural heritage," the Municipality of Sifnos has become the first in the Cyclades island chain to ask the state to stop the construction of cave houses, ban private swimming pools and enforce stricter measures to protect it from dizzying tourist development.