Wednesday, March 28, 2012
A private initiative to promote Greek tourism was unveiled on March 23 at New York’s Times Square. Greeks around the world have teamed up and created Up Greek Tourism, a grass-root, voluntary campaign to support Greek tourism.
The initiative began with a crowd-funding campaign: the aim was to raise $ 15,000 to obtain advertising space. The initial goal has been surpassed in just 20 days, as Up Greek Tourism raised $ 20,352 from 330 contributors, more than half of which were foreigners.
The success paved the way for a full-motion digital billboard in Times Square, which went up on March 23 and will remain there for 30 days. Under the headings See You In Greece and Join Us In Greece, the ad features mosaic imagery created by Greek visual designer Charis Tsevis. 
The Up Greek Tourism team has no budget or hired professionals, while none of its members are tourism professionals. All work is done on a voluntary basis and tourism was chosen for its potential to reboot the Greek economy. YouTube: Join Us In Greece & See You In Greece [VIDEO]; Greek News Agenda: Visit Greece...on your plate
