(1) So a rider was added to the contract at the end of 2013, authorising SETE not to refurbish the east lift or redevelop the area at the foot of the tower.
(2) In a country where the tax collection system is so inefficient, credit cards are the easiest way of clamping down on evasion,” said Andreadis, who heads the Confederation of Greek Tourism (Sete).
(3) SETE has set a target of 24 million visitors by 2021 – a rise that would contribute an annual €44bn or 20% to gross domestic product.
(4) "We had a real do for the 120th anniversary," says city councillor Jean-Bernard Bros, who heads SETE, the operator of the tower.
(5) As the 20-year-old peered nervously from under her veil and picked at her hand, her mother, Engocha Sete, recalled: "She wanted to go and I couldn't stop her.
(6) "We have revised our number upwards to around 19 million arrivals, an all-time record," SETE's chairman, Andreas Andreadis, said.
(7) The numbers picked up again last year, with a 7% rise, enabling SETE, a semi-public company controlled by the city council, to report a €6m profit on revenue totalling €73m.
(8) On the green drive from Sete Cidades, we pass a romério of men in rough shawls and bright scarves bearing metal-tipped staffs and chanting prayers whilst pilgrimaging around the island’s many churches.
(9) The company, established by SETE last year, is the private sector's answer to what is increasingly seen as the country's marketing conundrum and marks the first time entrepreneurs have actively sought to promote Greece abroad.
(10) This month the Confederation of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE) revised its projections for the second time this year – from 18.5 million to 19 million arrivals (excluding 2.2 million on cruise ships) - nearly twice the Greek population.
(11) Despite the fact that there was so much negative publicity, people have booked and it now looks very realistic that we will get to 16 million [visitors], if not more," said Andreas Andreadis, who presides over the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (Sete).
(12) "It has taken three times longer than planned and cost three times more," says Eric Spitz, SETE's general manager.
(13) In Jorge’s lively company, Sete Cidades becomes a sacred space, a place of wonder.
(14) He takes me to Sete Cidades , a spectacular caldera three miles across, complete with breeze-ruffled, human-free, jade-hued lake.