TRAVEL CHANNEL INTERNATIONAL PROMOTING GREECE

The Greek National Tourism Organisation is starting an advertising campaign through the Travel Channel International (TCI). TCI will create 5 x 60" short (advertorial) films covering city break - luxury - nautical – adventure – gastronomy- culture under the guidance of GNTO. Travel Channel will be shooting at Thessaloniki, Pilion, Meteora, Zagorochoria, Corfu, Crete, Athens and Santorini. These will appear 910 times in 118 countries for 3 months where Travel Channel broadcasts in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Moreover there will be a Greek themed weekend, with programming drawn from TCI's extensive programme library. During the three-month campaign a competition will run for a month with prize trip to Greece which will be displayed with special spots of 300 appearances at Travel Channel. Entry will be via a competition page across 18 websites with information on the prize and general information about Greece.

GOOGLE PARTNERS UP WITH GREEK MUSEUMS IN CULTURAL PROJECT

Google's collaboration with the Acropolis Museum, the Benaki Museum and the Museum of Cycladic Art is part of the Art Project's current development. The Google Art Project, which got rolling in February 2011 with 17 museums in nine countries, has now grown into a network of 151 partner museums in 40 countries.

The Google Art Project collection currently includes over 30,000 works of art. Up to now, 46 museums have each selected one work to be photographed in particularly high resolution through "gigapixel" state-of-the-art technology. This technique allows viewers to study the works in all their detail, by exploring paint strokes and verdigris, for instance, something which would have been impossible to do with the naked eye. At a recent press presentation in Athens of the collaboration between Google and the three Greek museums, Minister of Culture Pavlos Geroulanos underlined the importance of safeguarding and promoting the country's heritage. Also taking part in the event was Google Art Project program manager James Davis, Acropolis Museum director Dimitris Pandermalis, Cycladic Art Museum director Sandra Marinopoulos and Benaki Museum president Emilia Geroulanou. The Acropolis Museum is showcased through 24 high-definition images as well as virtual tours of its permanent collections developed through the "street view" technology also used by Google Maps.

AND THE WINNERS OF THE GNTO GAME OLYMPICS THROUGH TIME ARE...

The Greek National Tourism Organisation is proud to announce the winners of the Game "Olympics Through Time". Ten winners will share the lifetime experience of attending the Olympic Lighting Ceremony on the 10th May in the Stadium of Ancient Olympia, as well as a three-day stay at the birthplace of the Olympic Games. The GNTO would like to say a huge thank you to all participants and congratulate the winners.

You can see the ten winners list here.

FVW AHENS WORKSHOP

The Leading German Trade Magazine for Tourism and Business Travel FVW, the number one source of information on German travel trade news, is organizing a Greece workshop for German travel agents in Athens in 4th of May, together with the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels under the auspices of the GNTO. Travel agents will discuss with tour operators and hoteliers how to generate a recovery in demand and will visit tourism highlights in Athens and on the Peloponnese.

ATHENS VIDEO ART FESTIVAL 2012

Athens Video Art Festival is the official Digital Arts and New Media of Greece. It takes place every year in Athens, dedicated to contemporary culture and new technologies. It aims at bringing together experimental projects of contemporary artists and at promoting free expression, exchange of ideas, and creative interaction while exhibiting new media and new technologies application in arts. Athens Video Art Festival began as a groundbreaking initiative and invited artists from all over the world to show their work to the Greek audience. During the last eight years, AVAF has presented the work of well-respected 8.500 artists from more than 60 countries, creating one of the largest Digital Arts archives in the world, with more than 14.500 artworks. Furthermore, the festival has been actively collaborating with more than 50 international institutions and festivals, empowering its international aspect. For its 8th edition, AVAF will take place in the historic centre of Athens, inaugurating a recently rehabilitated 5.000m2 building complex. Moreover, for the first time, the festival will have free admission, so that everyone can enjoy the work of more than 250 artists, as well more than 15 foreign festivals and international tributes, in seven distinct Categories: (Video Art, Animation, Installations, Music, Performances, Digital Image, & Web Art).

For more information visit: Athens Video Art Festival 2012 Edition.

OECD AWARDS GREEK AGROTOURISM INITIATIVE

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) awarded six innovative green projects developed by Greeks as part of its annual Global Forum on Eco-innovation in January. The competition, organized by the OECD to boost environmentally friendly business practices in Europe and to encourage new ideas in countries like Greece, included the participation of 28 Greek projects, representing around 8 percent of the total 490 from 37 countries. The Greek entries involved sustainable energy (21 percent), sustainable construction (18 percent), clean production (14 percent), sustainable agriculture (14 percent), energy management (11 percent), sustainable transportation (11 percent), information/education (7 percent) and food production (4 percent). One of the six Greek proposals that was awarded was created by 64-year-old Dimitris Dimos, a breeder of indigenous Greek animals in Trikala who has worked in the sector for 28 years. The purpose of Dimos's Ark is to preserve these rare Greek breeds, to boost agrotourism in the region and to reduce the impact of livestock farming on the environment.

Read more @: www.ekathimerini.com

NETHERLANDS VOTED GREECE AS A BEST AIR DESTINATION IN EUROPE

Greece remains the top ten of Dutch tourists, gaining the title of best air destination in Europe in the Zoover Awards 2012. The zoover.nl is the largest travel portal in the Netherlands, for booking and comparing tourism destinations and enterprises based on an assessment of their own visitors. For more than 2 months over 140,000 users of zoover.nl were able to vote for their favorite holiday destination based on service quality, natural environment, hospitality, accessibility and security of the destination. The Zoover Awards were created in order to give recognition to the best-rated accommodations in Europe and popular destinations worldwide. Since 2009 they have grown to become a prestigious contest within the travel industry. The award of Greece as the best air destination shows that despite the negative publicity in recent months, our country continues to attract tourists from Netherlands and remains a favorite destination for their holidays. This preference is reflected in the number of bookings, giving an optimistic message about the course of this year's tourist arrivals from the Dutch market.

OLYMPIC FLAME LIGHTING @ ANCIENT OLYMPIA

The Olympic Flame will be lit during the morning of 10 May using the sun's rays at the Temple of Hera in Ancient Olympia in a traditional hour-long ceremony among the historic ruins of the home of the ancient Games. The Olympic Flame Handover Ceremony will be held at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens on 17 May organised by the Hellenic Olympic Committee (HOC). The Olympic Flame will travel to Creta and will reach Kastelorizo the southern point of Greece. The Olympic Flame Ceremony takes place before every Olympic Games event. The Flame Lighting Ceremony has acted as herald for the Olympic Games worldwide. The Sacred Flame travels the country where the games are to be held and burns for as long as the Olympic Games last, as a strong reminder of the land that gave birth to them.

FILMS, MADE IN GREECE!

Greece is one of the most favourite movie locations! Hydra, Kefalonia, Skiathos, Skopelos, Amorgos, Kastellorizo, Delphi and Pelion are only some of the destinations that provided the perfect setting for films that later received international acclaim. Many of those films have become "classic" and epitomize the Greek spirit via romance, passion, defiance, tragedy, forbidden love, guilty pleasures, and all else in between. The international success of films such as "Zorba the Greek", "Never on Sunday", "Stella", "Ilya Darling" and "Boy on a Dolphin" had the participation of all-star casts and directors and went on to receive Academy Award nominations. They continue to be favourites amongst cinephiles and are part of the annual Greek Film Festival at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. In addition to foreign movies, Greek cinema holds a special place with global audiences, highlighted by the golden age of cinema during the 50s and 60s, with elements of film noir that remain timeless.

Read more @: Films made in Greece

GREECE TOURISM IN AUSTRALIA WILL GO-GO IN 2012

Greece is the 'go go' destination for Australia for 2012, according to Eastern Mediterranean Tourism Association (EMTA) founder David Beirman, despite the country's economic situation. Speaking at the EMTA product seminars in Sydney, Mr Beirman explained that although the region had suffered from negative coverage, up to 122,000 Aussies travelled to Greece last year. He said continued tourism into Greece was among one of the best ways to assist the country's money issues. Concurring with the EMTA head, Greek National Tourism Office director Christina Kalogera added Greece was still one of the best destinations. "It is the best place for democracy and carrying Western values," she said over the weekend at the Sydney Hotel and Travel Show in Sydney According to the director the country saw a nine percent increase in visitors last year as well as a ten percent jump in tourism receipts compared to the prior year. "2011 was a very good year for tourism in Greece and we are hoping for more to visit in 2012."

For more information: www.etravelblackboard.com

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Greek National Tourism Organisation Tsoha 7 Athens, Attiki 11521