GNTO Launches Actions to Support Halkidiki in Target Markets

The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) has launched the first actions to promote Halkidiki as a tourism destination to foreign markets following the flash storm that hit the area two weeks ago.

The actions follow the meeting headed by Tourism Minister Haris Theoharis that took place after the heavy storm, which occurred on July 10, leaving damage to the area, fatalities and injuries.

Since July 17 the GNTO has been supervising a two-month special campaign in Rome and Milan, with a promotional video of Halkidiki screened at metro and bus stations.

The organization’s offices abroad, in cooperation with the destination’s hotelier association, will hold fam trips for the further promotion of Halkidiki in international media to restore its image.

More specifically, the GNTO office in Russia will hold a fam trip (July 26-29) for Oksana Kalnina, a journalist from the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper that counts more than 10 million readers, and Elena Miagkova from the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR).

Also, during August 2-7, Polish influencers will visit the destination as part of a fam trip organized by GNTO office in Poland. The group will include lifestyle influencer Aga Stachurska, travel blogger Jessica Jersey, photographer Paweł Adamko and videographer and producer Marek Kozicki. During the fam trip, photos and videos of Halkidiki will be produced to present Halkidiki’s attractiveness. Promotional spots will also be made to play on Jessica Jersey’s Youtube channel with the participation of Aga Stachurska.

In addition, the GNTO office in Austria, which also promotes Greece in Hungary, will carry out a press trip to Halkidiki during August 2-5 with the participation of Hungarian journalists Zsolt Sandor from the popular site Origo (524,000 readers per day and 2.3 million a month) and Tamas Fencsik from Nlcafe magazine (434,000 readers daily and some 2 million a month).

Also, as of August, the GNTO will include Halkidiki in its monthly newsletter (20,000 recipients), within the framework of a running online promotion campaign of Greece to many European countries and the United States through the OATH-Verizon Media network. Halkidiki will also be a part of a special promotional program of the GNTO offices abroad to the media of the markets in their jurisdiction, which will last until the end of the year.