For as long as we can remember, Greece’s promotional campaign as a tourism destination started, from late to catastrophically late. In most cases the issue was the budged – either it was not decided or it was not signed in time or the advertising agency/concept selection took for ever. The net result was that Greece was among the last to start its promotion, at times that travelers would decide on their summer vacation way ahead of time – with starting point just after completing their vacation and actually booking around the winter holiday season!
Today the actual booking of the package has been pushed further into the future, closer to the summer holiday, but the process of contemplating, comparing and evaluating is something that has not changed. On the contrary, with the use of social media this process has become even more complex and the need to start campaigning on time is more important.
With great joy we heard from the Ministry of Tourism along with the GNTO that Greece’s promotional campaign, this year, will start on time!!!
We truly wish that it will have a significant effect on the outcome and that this will be the beginning of a practice that Greece will continue year in year out.
It seems that when we have limited budgets to manage, decisions are much easier to make and come to a conclusion. Whatever the reason, its welcome.
Another issue that has surfaced with determination to begin tackling is that of renting illegal rooms/homes. The damage these illegal rooms/homes pose are enormous. To name a few: unpaid taxes, unethical competition to hotels and B&B with license, questionable standards and practices that can spoil the image of Greece – you get the picture. All of this we hope will stop with the new law that puts a fine of 50.000 Euro to anyone caught renting their home or rooms illegally. Lets see how many are courageous enough to continue!
Finally, we at Hellenic Travelling constantly strive to bring to our readers accurate and pertinent information in a format that is easy and useful. We were the first travel guide to have specific sections so that our users can find the information without referring all the time to the index. We were the first to organize the information in geographical areas. We were the first to take this information and put it on the Internet and promote the entire travel and tourism industry. These are just a few, that we can point out that became industry standards by everyone else.
Today we have another first, for which we will not be surprised if our competition follows, with some delay. It is no secret that smart phones and mobile devises are becoming mainstream and that they all can read QR Codes. As of this issue we have included QR Codes with valuable information for the companies listed, thus giving them the ability to provide more information and easily take advantage of the traditional printed publication and the Internet which has taken everyone by storm.
So take your smart phone, aim at the QR Codes and see what they have to reveal!
