Group TECHNICAL OLYMPIC announces the following, after a newspaper article, regarding the issuance of a construction license for the expansion and renovation of the Village Inn hotel at Porto Carras in Chalkidiki: The development of tourism in our country has been and still remains a priority. All governments position tourism at the very top of their political and economic agenda, claiming its radical contribution to the country s economic growth. However, tourism growth cannot be achieved without any investments and in specific large investments that will eventually attract high-end tourism. And this is a common belief across the political spectrum. Hence, it is of great disappointment, when these investments are due time, any investment initiative undertaken is being exploited in the framework of a pre-election campaign. Porto Carras has been repeatedly in the epicentre of attacks due to the significant investments that are being already planned. This is apparently why it is becoming a fairly easy target. Because it always acts according to the law and the decisions of the government authorities, with complete clarity and non-negotiable respect for the legal system. However, no one really considers the inevitable consequences that these attacks bring about, especially in the midst of the tourism season. At the same time when our country claims the image of the preferred top quality tourist destination, Porto Carras s entirely legal investment initiatives for tourism development are becoming a target in the political arena. Porto Carras is not just an impersonal fabrication. It is rather a real Greek enterprise of pivotal importance to the region s total socio-economic development. During the summer season it employs more than 1,400 people and hosts thousands tourists, and during the rest of the year it is a source of life and action, in a rather inactive area, as it hosts a series of international conferences, athletic events and other important activities that enhance the Chalkidiki economy. Porto Carras investment plan, which is a model of a viable development plan, has the following specific targets: - the completion and upgrade of hotel and other type of tourist lodges as well as the implementation of contemporary systems using internationally acknowledged practices to further exploit tourist activity, - the enhancement of tourist capacity rates in Chalkidiki together with its quality upgrade, - the increase of the employment rate offering full year jobs, - the protection and the revelation of the natural surroundings and habitat of the region, which offers a unique combination of sea and mountain landscape. It is becoming typical, during any political confrontations to choose to ignore the consistency and extreme caution that Porto Carras is taking when it plans to invest, focusing rather on the simplistic accusations exchange. For instance: Why is it never brought to light, the fact that even though all laws that govern the Porto Carras investment, including laws under the governments of Constantinos Karamanlis (1976-1977), Andreas Papandreou (1987) and Costas Simitis (1996), incorporate the provision that in the Porto Carras case the forestry law does not apply, the company, in order to apply for a construction licence, demands and receives certifications from the forest authorities that the location of the requested construction works is not considered as forest? It is characteristic of the company s sensitivity to the protection of the environment, that at its own initiative it requested that a total of 8,526.000 m2 (2.107 acres) be considered as forest. Porto Carras plans and realizes its investment plan with absolute transparency and remains available to any interesting party to provide any information or clarification hoping that the recent reappearance of the matter in the press, will not cause further delays and potentially cancellation of the investment plan, which would cause to a significant damage to the tourism industry, the employment but also to the State s reliability.