A new campaign, celebrating the emotions we feel on holiday in Greece, was launched by Marketing Greece on February 20 and quickly embraced by an international audience as well as Greece’s tourism ministry and the local community.
Released on Discover Greece’s social media channels, the “Oh My Greece! | Unlock the feeling” campaign video has already been shared widely, with countless comments attesting to the unique feeling of being in Greece. Within 24 hours of the launch, the video received more than 290,000 views and was shared more than 5,000 times on Facebook, and was viewed more than 29,000 times on Instagram.
The campaign underlines how a simple memory – a song, in this case – can unleash a wave of emotions and memories of being on holiday in Greece and longing to return.
Speaking at the launch event, at the Athens Concert Hall, Marketing Greece CEO Ioanna Dretta underlined the significance of understanding the unique effect Greece – and its people – has on its visitors, and how the country doesn’t stop giving us reasons to go: “Oh My Greece”.
“The Greek tourism product is a combination of nature, culture, gastronomy; of customs and a way of life,” she noted. “But it is also something else, more immediate and deeper: It’s about a connection with people. The relationship with locals. We need to understand how we stand out on this front and the love that people feel for Greece. For our visitors, hospitality isn’t just about perfect accommodation. It’s as much, if not more, about the warmth of locals, the ease of contact, the immediacy, the friendliness, the smile.”
The campaign was given a significant boost by the announcement of Tourism Minister Elena Kountoura that the video will be promoted on the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) social media channels and at international tourism events attended by the ministry.
“A main priority of our strategy is and always has been the cooperation between the private and the public sector, which will benefit our tourism industry,” she said. “This is why I would like to thank Marketing Greece for our long-term cooperation, which supports the coherent national tourism policy of the Tourism Ministry and supplements the work of our national tourism body (GNTO).”
She added: “The new video that Marketing Greece presents today, is an exceptional production and is granted to the GNTO copyright free. We will actively promote it via the ministry’s vast network and GNTO’s foreign offices to all markets”