That’s the 2010 tourism motto for Greece, backed with a budget of €12 million.
The deputy minister of tourism and culture said they chose a simple, widely known Greek word that symbolically encapsulates Greece and tourism, which will be the focus of 10 TV commercials set to the music of Manos Hadjidakis.
Good job on saving letters due to the country’s debt crisis and making no false claims. Points off for choosing a motto that must first be translated for anyone who can’t understand Greek, which is pretty much everyone who isn’t Greek or has never been to Greece, the very audience being targeted by a tourism campaign. Ironic.
Assuming the motto was tested properly tested on a panel and experts were consulted, Greece wasted their time and money.
The Greek National Tourist Organisation website still advertised Greece with the 2009 tagline, “A Masterpiece You Can Afford” at the time it announced its new motto, while a plethora of new taxes took effect on everything.
In launching the new website, the EOT/GNTO has chosen to reorganize all pages, causing former links to be broken; and the map and destination list are presented by municipality, which of course makes no sense to a foreigner or visitor. Ironic.
*Kalimera means good day or good morning.
Sources
“Kalimera is country’s new tourism motto” – Kathimerini
“«Καλημέρα» από Ελλάδα” — Ta Nea
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“Live Your Myth in Greece 2008”
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“Do I need a visa for Greece?”
Image from eKathimerini.com
http://bit.ly/kalimera
Kat Reply:
March 10th, 2010 at 00:13
I tried the new motto on a few people, and they just looked at me like I was crazy. Their reaction was: “Ti les;” Exactly, how does one get a picture of Greece from that? And since when is Kalimera is a widely known Greek word? Most people can’t pronounce gyro correctly, even though they’ve eaten one.