Subject: Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 17-04-16 From: "HR-Net News Distribution Manager" CONTENTS [01] ND leader Mitsotakis: There will be better days for Greece [02] Kountoura: 2017 will be the best year in the history of Greek tourism [03] Sailboat with 48 refugees arrived at the port of Argostoli --------------------------------------------------------------------------- [01] ND leader Mitsotakis: There will be better days for Greece Easter is, above all, the triumph of hope against despair. Of trust against disappointment. Of life against death and this message is what we need now as country and people in the difficult times we are experiencing" noted in his Easter message New Democracy (ND) leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis. ND leader wished hope and optimism to all and particularly to the people that are mostly suffering and need our solidarity. He referred to the country's difficulties and estimated that "Greece will live better days because it worth it". [02] Kountoura: 2017 will be the best year in the history of Greek tourism Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura announced that there will be 150 new airlinks and 6000 additional flights at least to Greece's regional airports in 2017, in an interview with the Sunday edition of Vradyni newspaper. Kountoura also said that these flights will concern, among others, destinations as Kos, Rhodes, Mykonos, Santorini, Corfu, Cephalonia, Zakynthos, Aktio and Thessaloniki adding that the "the new airlinks include a large number of European cities as well as Russia, Israel and Lebanon". Kountoura also said that new direct flights from countries from Asia, the Middle East and USA and other international markets. Referring to the new tourist markets she referred to an opening to the Middle East, China and South Korea adding that a 30 percent increase in tourists from India is expected according to the number of visas to be issued. Finally, she noted that the pre-reservations from all the foreign markets, traditional and new, are increased by 15-70 percent in comparison with 2016 and everything seems to be very encouraging. "2017 will be, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the best year in the history of Greece's tourism" she said. [03] Sailboat with 48 refugees arrived at the port of Argostoli A sailboat with 48 refugees that had sent a distress signal early Saturday while sailing 28 nautical miles southwest of the island of Cephalonia arrived on Saturday evening at the port of Argostoli. According to sources, the refugees (23 men, 12 women and 13 children) are Kurds and Syrians and were sailing two days with destination Italy. The refugees will be temporarily hosted in the scouts building in Argostoli.