GNTO – ACG Team Up to Study Greece’s Tourism and Branding History

GNTO Secretary General Dimitris Fragakis and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Deree – The American College of Greece Panos Vlachopoulos signing the MoC.

The Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) announced that it had teamed up with the American College of Greece (ACG) as part of a research program concerning the history of tourism.

In this direction, GNTO Secretary General Dimitris Fragakis and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Deree – The American College of Greece Panos Vlachopoulos signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) during a special event at ACG.

The two sides agreed to work together on a digital resource that will offer students, researchers, and experts access for the first time to archival materials related to tourism from press, advertising, public documents, as well as oral testimonies.

Dubbed “Digital Exhibition: Tourism and Nation Branding, 1945-1990”, the project, which is supported by Research England, aims to classify and assess part of the GNTO archive and to prepare a study titled “Tourism Promotion Policy: GNTO and Branding of the Greek Nation in a Historical Context”.

GNTO Secretary General Dimitris Fragakis.

“The GNTO has always played a leading role in the design, development, and promotion of brand Greece. It is a priority to present the public with this contribution to the history of Greek tourism and nation branding which is also highlighted via the GNTO’s vast archive,” said Fragakis.

He went on to add that the GNTO’s collaboration with ACG is the “first decisive step for the classification, preservation, and utilization of historical material which captures the dynamics of Greece’s tourism over the last 80 years.”

An ACG interdisciplinary team will carry out research in history, visual culture, design studies, cultural heritage and digital humanities.