More and more Italian tourists are discovering northern Greece thanks to the completion of the motorway Egnatia Odos and to the increase of the direct air connections of Thessaloniki with northern and central Italy.
Tourism from Italy has been also awakened by campaigns to approach the Italian market, launched by tourism and hotel operators and businesses in northern Greece, “conscripting” even the Italian star Ornella Muti, who visited Chalkidiki for one week in July.
Now, the Halkidiki Tourism Organisation, in co-operation with other bodies and organizations, is about to kick off a promotional campaign of Egnatia Odos in the Italian market, in order to lead to a further increase of the tourist flows from Italy, as many Italians do not know yet how close is Chalkidiki to Italy, thanks to the highway.
The President of the Halkidiki Hotel Association Grigoris Tassios told the news agency AMNA: “In our visits to the ports of Bari and Brindisi, we realized with surprise that the Italians didn’t know how quickly they can come to northern Greece. With Egnatia Odos, the temporal distance between Igoumenitsa – Thessaloniki has dropped to 3-3.5 hours. The journey from Bari or from Bridisi to Igoumenitsa lasts 12-16 hours, but it is very comfortable, as it is made with modern ships”.
The organization entered into a process of strategic showcasing of the benefits of Egnatia Odos, in cooperation with institutions, such as the Greek Cultural Center in Berlin and the new administration of the Greek National Tourism Organization in Italy, as well as in the framework of the program Via Egnatia.
The program concerns the destinations along the Egnatia Odos and among others, aims to highlight the already existing tourism products of the region, such as the cycling, thermal, mountaineering, hiking, gastronomic, wine and rural tourism.
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