By Maria Paravantes
It’s accessible, it’s diverse, it’s home to Greece’s
foremost historic monuments, its coastline is endless, it hosts a number of
World Heritage sites, it combines sea, sun and mountains, and its culinary
traditions are highly sought after. This is the Peloponnese and
these are the reasons a visit is a must, explains Sotiris Varelas, Special
Advisor on Tourism for the Region of the Peloponnese.
Speaking to the Greek
Travel Pages (GTP) on
the sidelines of the World Travel Market (WTM) in London last week, Mr Varelas
revealed the regional authority’s plans for the promotion of the region beyond
the traditional four-month tourism season.
“We here in the
Peloponnese have two issues to address: firstly, that we have traditionally
handled 70 percent of Greek travelers and 30 percent from abroad. With the
recent crisis, Greeks refrained from traveling so amongst our goals is to boost
the destination profile and attract more foreign holidaymakers,” Kalamata-born Varelas says, adding that new deals with Aegean,EasyJet and soon with British Airways offering direct flights to Kalamata airport, will
resolve this.
“Secondly, the
Peloponnese has traditionally been considered more of an attraction and less of
a destination, which means that people come to the region to visit a number of
its significant sites but rarely opt to stay here and make it their holiday
destination. Indicatively, the Peloponnese accounts for 7 percent of all
accommodation facilities in Greece, but only 3 percent of overnight stays. This
is the gap we’re trying to fill,” Mr Varelas says.
In this direction, the regional authorities launched
the “10 Experiences” campaign
— experiences involving gastronomy, heritage, history, walking routes, beaches,
wellness and luxury — in efforts to redefine the Peloponnese “brand” and boost
the number of arrivals and overnight stays.
“We have based our
entire promotional strategy on the ’10 Experiences’, which combines everything
from myths and religion to gastronomy and alternative sports, and on
participation at international travel fairs,” Mr Varelas adds.
He also points out
that ABTA’s (Association of British Travel Agents)decision to hold their 2015 Travel Convention at Costa Navarino in Messinia, last month led to improved “identification” of the
Peloponnese as a destination… and “we’ve seen this in practice here at the WTM
with many visiting our booth and through our B2B meetings”.
The region’s main
markets are the UK, Germany, Italy (thanks to direct access via the port of Patra), Scandinavian countries, France and Russia.
The Peloponnese, Mr
Varelas explains, can offer exclusivity and cater to the needs of the
individual tourist at a friendly price thanks to its large number of small- and
medium-sized businesses. “The trend now is to veer away from mass tourism and
the sea and sun concept. Of course, vacationers come here for the sea and sun,
but they also want that special something, they want to enhance their stay with
diverse experiences.”
As for the extension
of the tourist season, regional authorities agree and stress that the
Peloponnese can cater to the rising demands of such a decision. “The
Peloponnese already does,” Mr Varelas says, “particularly the mountain regions
of Arcadia and Corinth, which operate all year round.”
Πηγή: GTP- Headlines
