Marketing Greece To Launch Website On Country’s “Unknown Treasures”

Andreas Andreadis, president of SETE and Marketing Greece at the Sani Resort stand at the World Travel Market (4-7 November). Photo ©: www.gtp.gr

Private marketing company for Greek tourism Marketing Greece is getting ready to launch a world-class website next year in an aim to give the Greek tourism product the best possible promotion that will eventually lead to a major increase in arrivals to the country.

The upcoming website discovergreece.com will showcase a complete Greek tourism product portfolio, act as a sales tool by combining products with booking engines and serve as a digital platform for community building and social media campaigns.

“The new website will run as of January 2014 and showcase the usp’s (unique selling points) of every Greek destination and tourism product,” Marketing Greece’s president, Andreas Andreadis, told GTP Headlines on the sidelines of the World Travel Market taking place in London, UK.

The company’s ultimate aim is for Greece to be included on the list of the 10 most important and attractive destinations worldwide.

Discovergreece.com to reveal Greece’s “secrets”

The new website – among other features – will give insight on the “unknown treasures” of Greek destinations.

“For instance, not many people realize that Athens is very close to the beach area (photo)… These are the kind of details we intend to disclose,” he said.

Mr. Andreadis added that Marketing Greece will do what the government can not, which is recommend certain places for tourists to eat and drink, etc. “Every day, 365 days a year, we will ‘tell a story’ and promote specific tourism products and make recommendations to travelers,” Mr. Andreadis said.

Marketing Greece’s online platform discovergreece.com will also allow visitors to plan their trip to Greece by using a search facility for accommodation, transportation and sightseeing through a user-friendly price comparison tool in collaboration with reputable booking systems.

Strategic alliances planned

Brand USA

“Marketing Greece is a first for Europe and we are attempting something similar to America’s official travel site Brand USA,” Mr. Andreadis said.

Mr. Andreadis told GTP that Marketing Greece intends to gradually launch strategic alliances with international organizations and gain insight from their best practices.

Bookings from UK market on the up

During the WTM, Marketing Greece reported a 10 percent increase in early bookings for 2014 compared with the previous year from the UK market.

“This is the first year that Greece is gaining market share compared to Spain and Turkey… Greece not only has made a big comeback but is also moving full steam ahead,” Mr. Andreadis told GTP.

Marketing Greece launched in late April and is composed by the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises (SETE), the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels and the Hellenic Association of Communications Agencies-EDEE.

The company’s business plan sees to achieve the strategic objective that is 24 million international arrivals and 18-19 billion revenue by 2021.