Crete’s Hersonissos’ Reach Grows Thanks to Social Media, Bloggers

Hersonissos. Photo © GTP

The diverse offerings of Crete’s Hersonissos Municipality took the Net by storm when images of the region hit everything from Flickr and twitter to Facebook and Instagram.

In its ongoing efforts to boost its image abroad and attract visitors, the local authorities are tapping into the far-reaching potential of the social media by organizing a three-day fam trip last month for a team of Greek travel bloggers.

“Our goal is to increase awareness of our municipality as a brand and in this direction we organized a fam trip for guest blogger-travelersfocusing on the promotion and reputation of the region,” said Deputy Hersonissos Mayor Efthimis Mountrakis.

Using it as an effective marketing tool which also paves the way for new connections, the local authorities presented the positive results of the initiative. Of the “Press Trip with Greek Bloggers” initiative held in May, which included everything from horseback riding and food sampling to aquarium visits and cooking lessons, bloggers Maria Kalymnos of “Maryhop”, Christos Loukas of “Blogtravels”, Maria Kofou of “Travelstoriesfromyworld”, Costas Fylaktos of “Runvel” and Maria Petropoulou of “Mylandingrunway”all wrote extensively about their experiences promoting their blog posts across the social media spectrum.