Crete, Rhodes and Central Macedonia were visited in late October to early November by leading British travel agents and journalists as part of three familiarization trips supported and/or organized by the Greek National Tourism Organisation (GNTO) in cooperation with the respective Regions, effectively enhancing the promotion of the three destinations across major platforms and media outlets in the UK market.
The participating Personal Travel Agents of Co-op Travel during a cooking class in Kavousi, one of the most authentic experiences the area offers for discovering Crete’s gastronomic tradition
Aiming to showcase Crete as a high-quality tourism destination, the GNTO UK and Ireland Office supported a familiarization trip in Lasithi in cooperation with the Region of Crete, with the participation of 35 top Personal Travel Agents from Co-op Travel, a member of the largest travel cooperative in the United Kingdom, The Midcounties Co-operative. Our visitors are among the most productive travel experts in the network and maintain extensive customer databases. The homeworking division, The Personal Travel Agents, to which they belong, includes more than 150 independent professionals across the country and annually manages travel sales to Greece worth over £7.7 million, of which 21 percent concern Crete, confirming the island’s longstanding strength in the British market.
This initiative is expected to bring significant benefits to Crete, as the deliverables include sending an exclusive Crete-focused newsletter to 80,000 customers of the Personal Travel Agents, publishing targeted posts on their social media channels, conducting an online educational session (webinar) about Crete — where the destination was presented by the Deputy Regional Governor for Tourism, Dr. Kyriakos Kotsoglou, with opening remarks by the Acting Head of the GNTO UK and Ireland Office, Ms. A. Tzifa — with on-demand viewing available, as well as publishing a dedicated blog on the official Personal Travel Agents platform.
The comprehensive programme of experiences and activities in which the Personal Travel Agents participated serves as a valuable guide for their customer recommendations, as it is based on their firsthand experience.
In Rhodes, The Sunday Times
During the same period, the GNTO UK and Ireland Office, in cooperation with the Municipality of Rhodes, organized a familiarization trip for British journalist Catherine Adams, Senior Commissioning Editor at The Times, who visited Rhodes to gather information and visual material for a full-page article titled “48 hours in Rhodes Town” in the print and digital editions of The Sunday Times. The feature, scheduled for publication in April 2026, aims to highlight the island’s natural wealth, historical and cultural heritage, as well as its gastronomic identity. The publication has particularly high journalistic value, as The Sunday Times reaches 1.5 million readers, circulates 561,000 copies, and has 593,000 subscribers. Its audience belongs to the upper AB social category, a demographic with high purchasing power and strong travel interest. This exposure is considered strategically important, as The Times and The Sunday Times are internationally recognized media with strong authority in travel content.
Visit to Kapani Market related to the Central Macedonia trip
Finally, journalist Natasha Blair, representing Silver Travel Advisor (www.SilverTravelAdvisor.com
), one of the most specialized British media for the 55-plus audience and operating simultaneously as a travel agency in cooperation with major tour operators, traveled to Central Macedonia following an invitation from the Region of Central Macedonia to showcase the area to the platform’s audience. Silver Travel Advisor has 124,000 members, 85,000 direct mail subscribers and 20,000 contacts in its database. The related feature is expected to be published within 2025 and in the winter print edition of the magazine, which will be distributed at the Destinations Shows 2026 in London and Manchester, offering an excellent promotional opportunity for Greece among a targeted and highly active travel audience.
Programme and material related to the Central Macedonia trip
The trip programme included destinations of cultural heritage, natural beauty, gastronomy and urban life, featuring visits to the Royal Tombs of Aigai (Vergina), the archaeological site of Dion, Mount Olympus, wineries, museums and historical points of interest. The visit offered a comprehensive picture of the unique experiential opportunities available to the modern traveller in Northern Greece, confirming that Central Macedonia is a complete, modern and multi-thematic destination for the British market. During the visit to Thessaloniki, Imathia, Kilkis and Pieria, the journalist participated in a programme designed to highlight a lesser-known yet authentic side of Central Macedonia.
