Theme cruises, luxury yachting and educational travel top the list
Recruiting the services of a strategic adviser (for the hefty fee of 2 million euros) to develop a marketing and identity system for Greek tourism has done much to raise prospects, although for the time being the adviser has reserved opinion pending the response of the tourism authorities. The market is expecting modern marketing proposals based on existing tourism potential and the advantages of each destination in Greece, and not on ideas from the outdated studies done over the past 10 years. It is generally accepted that the industry has to acquire a unified identity. For example, the country’s tourism logo has been changed eight times in the past 10 years, yet Spain and France have had the same one for 20 and 15 years respectively. Surveys have shown that high on the list of the country’s attractions are theme cruises, luxury yachting, conference and educational tourism, followed by incentive tourism, mini-breaks, gastronomy, nature and adventure tourism, business meetings and luxury hotels. Any strategy should include new forms of tourism, while attention should also be paid to promoting various forms of tourism in each geographical region, both abroad and at home. Specific age groups in each foreign market should be targeted. However, too much focus on types of tourism where services are not yet in place for the most exacting visitors could do more harm than good. Finally, encouragement should be given to those state services that have made an attempt over the past couple of years to coordinate efforts to advertise abroad, in cooperation with groups such as the Greek National Tourist Organization, Agrotouristiki SA and Helexpo.
