Greece’s tourism campaign strategy for 2014-2015 was unveiled in a special event on Wednesday by the Greek National Tourism Organisation (EOT) and the ministry of tourism.

The new campaign, prepared much sooner than usual, targets specific tourism markets abroad with an emphasis on internet tools and the needs of the country’s visitors.

Addressing the event, Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni said that the aspiration is to make Greece a hospitality paradise. She underlined that 2013 was a year of successes for Greece, noting that the ministry’s choices were vindicated and was proved that the tourism sector has turned the crisis into opportunity.

EOT general secretary Panos Livadas said that in the new year, Greece expects roughly 20 million tourists and, counting cruise tourism, their number will increase to 22 million.

Referring to the marketing strategy to be adopted by Greece in the next tourism period, he focused on the markets of China, Russia and Brazil.

Commenting on Brazil, Kefalogianni noted that a tourism promotion campaign is already underway in the city of Sao Paulo.

Livadas noted that the messages from China are very encouraging after the launch of a direct flight between Greece and Shanghai, while a direct flight between Athens and Beijing is being considered by tour operators in China.

Prospects, as regards the Russian market, are very promising based on visa issuance requests that record an increase of 65 pct compared with 2012.
The 100th anniversary of the first organised tourism campaign by Greece was also marked during the event with a rare footage screening.