Greece Plans Fams and Marketing to Support Rhodes | Travel Research Online

What’s a country to do when photos of it going up in flames have been featured on front-pages? Turn to the travel trade, of course.

The Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) is doing just that. It is gearing up its marketing efforts and rolling out a series of fam trips, in hopes of bringing tourists back to Rhodes.

The GNTO today announced it will invite travel partners and press to see the island’s tourist attractions and recovery efforts for themselves. It also will run co-advertising programs with tour operators and airlines in 18 countries, and work with other local groups to spread the word of the island’s recovery. The exact details were not yet released.

Almost 20,000 visitors fled 667 raging wildfires that tore across the island for two weeks in July. “It’s raining cancellations,” Panagiotis Tokouzis, vice president of the Greek Tourism Confederation, said last week.

But the state of emergency was lifted on July 26, and the fires were declared under control on July 27. Airlines have resumed flights and tour operators are again offering trips to most resorts, though some in the southeast remain closed.