With the Aegean Sea to the east and the Mediterranean to the south, Greece is the personification of island bliss. In January of 1980, we featured Jet & Cruise Ltd.'s 12-day packages featuring a tour of the capital, Athens. From there, tourists could choose to fly to one of six islands, including Chios, Corfu and Crete, alongside Kefalonia, Rhodes and Skiathos. (Read the whole article here.) Thirty years later, we're still soaking up the sun.
This year, we featured the island of Santorini among our picks when "Touring Greece." This month, Louis Hellenic's M/V Louis Majesty joined Windstar Cruises and Ya'lla Tours USA touring Greece. Last year, a study found an increase in well-known hotels including Starwood, InterContinental, Marriott and Hyatt properties throughout the islands, among others. Most recent additions include two on the island of Kos, including Doubletree by Hilton Resort, joing Hilton Athens this January, and Iberostar Odysseus, joining the brand's 12 properties throughout the islands, including Rhodes, Corfu, Crete, Zakynthos and Cyprus, last June.
As we celebrate our 80th anniversary, we're taking a look at what was happening in the industry in the past and asking agents to share their thoughts on what has changed in the industry up until the present. So please share your thoughts by posting a comment below, writing us at our Facebook page, sending a tweet to our Twitter page or by engaging in a discussion in real time at AgentNation (the only social community online for all kinds of travel agents, which certainly wasn't around 80 years ago). We want to hear from you.
And while you're here, learn more about how we're celebrating eight decades of covering the travel industry for travel professionals.