GNTO Earmarks Almost 1 Million Euros to Promote Greece in Europe, US Via Google

The Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) has allocated over half a million euros for its latest promotional campaign to be launched via Google in the US and across Europe, Greek daily Kathimerini reports.

The first part of the promo drive estimated at 355,000 euros will include an advertising plan that will cover the British, German, Italian, French, Dutch, Polish and Swiss markets. The decision to prioritise these markets comes after examining the bulk of online searches for “travel/holidays to Greece”.

For the promotion of Greece and the GNTO’s home site www.visitgreece.gr, Google will bring its advertising tools into service including Google Search, Google Display Network and YouTube. Total funds set aside for this purpose come to 91,000 euros for the UK, 87,500 euros for Germany, 59,500 euros for Italy, 35,000 euros for France, 35,000 euros for the Netherlands, 24,500 euros for Switzerland and 17,500 euros for Poland.

At the same time, Google has budgeted 160,000 euros for the promotion via Google Search, Google Display Network and YouTube of Greece in six US states, which were also selected based on the large volume of searches in the “travel/holidays to Greece” category.

Broken down into numbers, 45,000 euros have been earmarked for the promotion of Greece in California, 45,000 euros for New York, 19,500 euros for Texas and 13,500 euros each for Florida, Illinois and Virginia.

Google has been collaborating with the GNTO since last September for the successful “Grow Greek Tourism Online” initiative, which has helped Greek sector professionals boost their online presence. Some 650 local tourism businesses were trained to use online tools in order to enhance their growth throughout the year. The initiative has now expanded to the Peloponnese, the Cyclades, the Ionian Islands, Macedonia, the Dodecanese and Attica.