The Athens Games are supposed to make this ancient land a top tourist destination. But with just three weeks left before the opening ceremonies, the figures are hardly encouraging.

More than half the tickets for the games remain unsold, tour operators are reporting sluggish bookings and up to 6,000 of Athens' 62,000 hotel rooms are still up for grabs, despite earlier fears of a serious accommodation shortage, reported Wednesday's CRI online.

Olympic construction delays and the threat of terrorism have hurt bookings.

Tourism is a vital industry in Greece, where island vacations at beach resorts and visits to archaeological monuments bring in 18 percent of the country's gross domestic product.

Last year, Greece attracted about 12 million visitors, 85 percent of them from Britain and Germany.

(CRI July 22, 2004)