A video with some highlights from the second and third day at the World Travel Market.

Watch out for:

• Frida
• The girl from Indonesia
• Manolis convincing a journalist to visit Greece
• the ‘good mornings’ in the end

podsafe track:
Road Trip – Dust Rhinos
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Read all our blog posts from World Travel Market 2010

We met these three excellent and very polite volunteers at the Greek stand.

Manolis was very impressed by their smiling attitude and their obvious desire to help and find the information people wanted.

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Read all our blog posts from World Travel Market 2010

We give you the excellent Mr. David Whitley (@mrdavidwhitley and on his blog Grumpy Traveller) answers Manolis’ question on what he would write if a hotel was not offering free wi-fi.

He says in a marvellous way two very simple things

1. Have a serious pricing policy
2. Know your guests

This is just a tiny segment from the excellent Travel Blogs Camp which took place on November 9. We are trully indebted to Darren Cronian (@travelrants and on his blog Travel Rants) for organising the event.

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Read all our blog posts from World Travel Market 2010

Our first video from the World Travel Market deliciousness.

Watch out for

• the adorable girl at the Islas de Canarias stand
• the excellent musician at the Gambia stand
• the cheeky Taiwan team

We promise more and Manolis offers his heartfelt apologies for his shaky takes.

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Read all our blog posts from World Travel Market 2010

Here’s the Greek Deputy Minister of Culture & Tourism, Giorgos Nikitiadis, giving his opening speech at the Greek stand.

This English version of his welcome is a bit perplexing as he seems to be giving undue attention to past strikes and disruptions in Greece. He also seems to be saying that one cannot find tourists who faced any problems due to the disruptions (though in that case the reason for the Ministry’s suggested policy of compensation is a bit confusing)

Nevertheless he rallies up admirably in the end with great optimism about the future and Greece’s new strategy for tourism.

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Read all our blog posts from World Travel Market 2010

It’s true. Frappé coffee is a Greek thing and you cannot find it in London (that is, you cannot easily find it. But we can give you a tip or two).

What you can get is aromatic hot coffee (and tea).

Sofia and Manolis will be at the World Travel Market in London from 8 November to 11 November to catch up with clients and negotiate prices and contracts on their behalf with tour operators.

How about dropping us a line so we can share a few moments over some steaming coffee? We’re buying.

See you there?

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Read all our blog posts from World Travel Market 2010

Working with a close relation is usually not advisable. We know. However in this case we are dealing with one big, all round amazing exception.

Meet Despoina a.k.a. Mama Despoina, our Sofia‘s mother and all around creator extraordinaire. (more…)

This is so touching, it just begged to be shared.

(more…)

Here is a short video – in Greek – with Panos from Aegean Sky where he explains the value of being online.

We made this video as part of our “I want you… online” campaign. You will recall that the cheekily titled “I want you… online” encourages travellers to leave feedback to hotels regarding their digital needs using a little card we created.

Even though Greece boasts some lovely small and medium sized hotels, the vast majority is not online. Travellers cannot find them and they cannot book online.

Panos is a SoMaFusion client and he recognises the value of being online and understanding his guests’ needs. In this short video he explains that by creating a website, analysing booking trends and his guests feedback he has managed to turn things around.

(more…)

Here is a little video we put together following our recent interview with the BBC correspondent, Malcolm Brabant about tourism and hospitality in Greece (read the relevant blog post).

We hope you’ll enjoy.

Since we’re on the subject, the Press Release on the BBC report (English and Greek) went out today.

The excellent podsafe track is ‘Your face is not enough’ by 3 Blind Mice.