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Athens 2004 Update

Greece’s Public Works Minister promised Friday that the much-delayed construction along the “classical” Marathon route will be completed by July 10. Marathon runners will use much of the route – along Marathonos Boulevard and a handful of east Attica communities – during the Athens Games.

The vice president of the association of agriculturalists employed in Public Works said that about 90 per cent of the greenery to be planted immediately surrounding Athens’ Olympic venues will have been planted before the Games being. However, only 10 per cent of the 3.3 million trees, 14.4 million bushes, 16 million flowering plants, and 67.5 million other plants are expected to be in place. Because of construction delays of sports venues, workers will still be planting trees and shrubs until the Opening Ceremony during the host summer months while the proper planting period is between January and April. Experts complain that extensive planning of thirsty grass will deplete Athens’ limited water resources.

According to an opinion poll by Kapa Research Company, almost half of Athens’ residents will not change their vacation plans and will leave Athens during the Olympic Games. About 45 per cent said they will leave compared to 41.5 who said they will stay and 10.6 per cent are undecided. The majority of the city’s civil servants are forbidden to take holidays during the Games.

Yacht brokers in the United States and Greece say that corporations and high-profile businessmen are booking spaces on ships instead of in hotels as an extra measure of security. For $30,000 a day corporate clients can be accommodated on a yacht, be protected by helicopters, bodyguards, a convoy of armour-plated limousines and a motorcycle escort that promises accelerated transport along a restricted road network to and from any of the 38 Olympic venues. According to the Hellenic Yacht Brokers Association 30 per cent of the 200 luxury yachts moored near Athens harbour have already been rented at a cost of $20,000 to $150,000 a day. The rest are expected to be leased to corporate clients by June.

And finally, Moscow police report the arrest of swindlers who sold fake tours to people for more than $1 million, including to the World Soccer Championship in Portugal. Russian travel agencies considered this the biggest fraud in the history of tourism in Russia. The men were about to open a travel agency selling bogus tours to the Athens 2004 Summer Games.

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