ΚΑΛΩΣ ΗΛΘΑΤΕ! Kalos ilthate! Welcome!
Welcome to the Global Greek World - a world of Greek-Somethings which stretches from Auckland to Zanzibar, from Aruba to Zimbabwe.
Wherever you are in the world, this is YOUR world!
The stage in Cannes last Saturday night at the NRJ Awards flooded not just with the Blue and White colours of Greece but with the sounds of Greece too - Mikis Theodorakis' famous Zorba's Dance!
Global Greek Nikos Aliagas, France's showman extraordinaire, did what he always does so beautifully, he promoted Greece!
Adding his own personal touch - the touch of Greece - to whatever he does, Nikos succeeded in getting Korean superstar PSY of the-billion-YouTube-clicks OPA Gangnam Style to dance the original OPA - OPA... Syrtaki Style!!!
All this to the music of Greece's legendary Zorba the Greek!
A brilliant touch from one of Greece's best and brightest ambassadors in the world!
Greece was THE place to be this summer! From millionaires in Crete, Hollywood stars in Corfu, Santorini,and Zakynthos, a Global Greek wedding in Patmos and a Bollywood wedding extravaganza in Mykonos, Greece saw it all! The 2012 tourist season didn't start off like that though...
Germany’s media
along with the rest of the mainstream European media fought hard at the start
of the tourist season to see who could tell the worst horror stories about Greece, making
tourists panic about the possibilities and the consequences of a GRexit! Although
the reports sent bookings plummeting and cancellations soaring, ruining June
and July to a certain extent, these doom and gloom predictions were literally
‘doomed’ to fail.
Join Us in Greece
One of the highly successful Billboard ads designed pro
bono by Charis Tsevis
Official and unofficial campaigns by groups and individuals in Greece and abroad, aimed at bringing tourists back to Greece this year, were everywhere in the social media, attempting to counter the negative images being beamed by the media around the world. The campaign above, launched by the UP Greek Tourism team and crowd funded by people like you and me, was particularly successful we are glad to say, and after its stint in New York, moved on to Washington!
One of the biggest selling points that we could all promote with surety, is that Greece has remained one of the safest destinations in the world.
The Greece based advertising campaigns of major fashion brands with a Greek influence such as Hermes and Folli-Follie have been a welcome boost also!
Hermes on Aegina
Folli-Follie's Crazy for Greece Campaign
Greece may be going through an unprecedented
economic crisis but thankfully this has not affected the beaches, the
sea or the sun, and this attracts people from all over the world.
The list of international
and Global Greek celebrities, who ignored the doomsday predictions and
added Greece
to their
holiday destinations, along with hundreds of thousands of others,
continues to grow each day!
Global Greek Nicholas
Negreponte, (founder of the Media Lab at Boston’s prestigious MIT and the One Laptop Per Child Foundation) and Deborah Porter decided to have a Greek style wedding on a beautiful island in the Aegean, Patmos, the
Island of the Apocalypse… the many international and local guests included Nicholas' brother, Ambassador John Negroponte.
Patmos is the same island that Julia Roberts decided would house her dreams for a Greek Island
getaway home…
The list of
celebrities visiting Greece
this year is growing fast.
After playing Epidaurus in 2009, Ethan Hawke was at the Costa Navarino resort in the Peloponnese, Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter were in Corfu, as was supermodel Kate
Moss who has returned with her family to spend a
few days cruising the
Ionian Sea, after choosing Greece
for her honeymoon last year.
Last summer’s successful concert at Athens’ Olympic Stadium, brought singer Jon Bon Jovi and family back to Greece on holiday. They have been spotted
around Corfu and Kefalonia.
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, regulars on Antiparos, where they have a house, are here for the
summer and will probably be spotted at least once at the Ancient Theatre of
Epidaurus.
Rumours a couple of years ago, even had US President Barack Obama planning a visit to the
Hanks’ Antiparos retreat!
Who else was or is here? Let’s start with our Global Greeks, well at least the ones we have heard of recently! Pappas Post publisher Gregory Pappas, a regular Mykonos visitor was in Athens earlier in the summer and came again in September, Greek Canadian Greek food experts Peter Minaki aka Kalofagas and Sam Sotiropoulos aka Greek Food are visiting right now, as is Greek American actress Anthoula Katsimatides who is in Nisyros and CBS Journalist Toula Vlahos who is in Paros. Greek-American presenter/showwoman Maria Menounos and her family also popped over to Greece, not for the Marathon this time, but for a wedding.
Talking about weddings, Jennifer Aniston was supposed to be marrying the love of her life on Crete, but that's remained a rumour so far!
Jennifer's ex, on the other hand, Brad Pitt, with Angelina Jolie, also known as Brangelina, and family, were in Pylos in July, took off to London for the Olympics and are reportedly back on their favourite GreekIsland
(and ours), Santorini. Angelina fell in love with the island while filming Lara
Croft there a few years ago, and decided to buy a house on it. Stephen Baldwin fell in love with Greece while filming a documentary here and announced that the entire land of Greece should really be the Holy Lands...
The one and only Robert
de Niro after whispering S’agapo (I
love you) to Greek American Melina
Kanakarides in a movie a few years ago, decided to see for himself and visit
Greece this year, along with John
Travolta as guests of the Latsis family.
De Niro fell in love with Santorini too – can’t
blame him - and is reportedly looking for a house there.
Interviewed against a magnificent
blue Aegean backdrop by fellow celebrity and Global Greek from
France, showman Nikos Aliagas, De Niro and Travolta told us how safe it is and how much they
loved Greece...
John Travolta, star of Grease and Saturday Night
Fever, brought along wife Kelly
Preston for a romantic interlude on Mykonos, the favourite Cycladic Island
of many fashion ‘royals’ including Cavalli,
Valentino, Jean Paul Gaultierand DSquared. The two D's that make up DSquared Dean and Dan even gave a lavish toga party on Mykonos this year. Apart from fashion royals and Hollywood royals who are regulars (Demi Moore decided to take time out to visit this year) Mykonos never
has a shortage of bona-fide visiting royalty. Princess Caroline of Monaco’s
children, the Casiraghis visited the
island recently with their friends, Stavros
and Eugenie Niarchos.
Regular royalty visiting, of course, includes ex-King Constantine of Greece and his family, who are reportedly
building a new home on Spetses and England’s Prince Charles. This year, Jordan’s Queen Rania is also in town for a visit. Abu Dhabi’s Prime Minister
Sheikh also popped into Fiscardo for a quick first visit to Kefalonia.
Billionaire business moguls Latsis and Angelopoulos
often mix business with pleasure, hosting foreign dignitaries and business
contacts on their mega-yachts as they cruise the deep blue sparkling waters of
the Aegean and the Ionian, but the guests
generally remain incognito out of respect for their privacy. Former US
President George Bush senior and his entourage were amongst those who didn’t
stay anonymous.
Apart from our semi-permanent Troika visitors and the usual EU politicians and FINMINS, in July, welcomed ex-President Bill Clinton who headed the Hellenic Initiative delegation of mainly Global Greek businessmen like Dow Chemicals CEO and President, Andew N Liveris and financier John Calamos who are interested in helping get the country on its feet as well as in investing in Greece, and expressed his utmost confidence in the country, as did President Shimon Peres of israel who is here on a 3 day State visit, as we write. He assured us we have a great future ahead of us!
Not bad at all for a little country in crisis!
Soooooo....
What are YOU waiting for?
Join all those who love Greece and show it!
It is still the
beginning of August - there's plenty of time!
It
isn’t too late to
book YOUR holiday to paradise to
enjoy the endless sun and deep blue sea! Get on the phone, on the internet, whatever, and book
your holiday, right now!
Greece’s
timeless beauty awaits you… with open arms!
Join US!!!
Update: We even had a 'Bollywood' wedding on Mykonos... something entirely different for the island. We loved it when we heard that Dubai-based Indian businessman Sagar
Shewakraman and journalist Faarah Mehta decided to hold their wedding in Mykonos, in September and flew in all their guests for the occasion. Blue and white turbaned gentlemen and sari-clad ladies danced the night away, enjoying the unique hospitality Mykonos is famous for... Rumour has it that it cost around 2 million... part of that going into the Greek economy...sooner or later!
Sagar and Faarah! Na Zisete! May you have a long and happy life together!
This post was updated... in 'summery' October, with the temperatures still hovering at 35C!
Come on over, you can still catch up with the sun and have a great holiday!
