The president of the Magnesia Hoteliers Association, Giorgos Zafeiris, expressed strong complaints about the lack of coordination in the tourism promotion of Thessaly, speaking to NEO 103.3 FM.
Mr. Zafeiris accused the Region of Thessaly and the Greek National Tourism Organization of incomplete joint actions, emphasizing that “hoteliers learn from Facebook about the activities of the organizations”, while expressing doubts about the knowledge of the subject by the competent authorities. “Without hotels, rentals, travel agencies, yachting and catering, tourism is not possible”, he emphasized.
He made particular reference to the need for an immediate advertising campaign to restore the image of Magnesia after the disasters in the Pagasitikos and the bad weather “Daniel”. As he revealed, the 300,000 euro budget that had been approved for the campaign remained unused, as the relevant competition came out fruitless.
“We had warned that the competition was incorrectly designed. The conditions that were set excluded most companies”, he said. At the same time, he criticized the choice of “easy solutions” in tourism promotion: “You don’t build a destination with YouTube videos. A targeted presence on radio and television was needed, in Greece and in our main markets, such as Bulgaria, Serbia and Romania”.
The president of the Hoteliers’ Association stressed that Magnesia missed a crucial opportunity for substantial tourism promotion, at a time when the region needed it more than ever.
