Page 23 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

Konstantia Darvidou, Evangelos Siskos: Efficiency of International Tourism Marketing
for The Promotion of Tourist Products of Greek Companies in The European Market

INTRODUCTION
Digital marketing channels became a new trend in the recent decades and affected
tourism industry in particular. Together with traditional advertising and marketing
research they may help promote tourism services in domestic and foreign markets.
The EU is the most important source of tourists for Greece considering its
geographical proximity, absence of entry barriers and high income level in the
member states affecting structure of needs of individuals. This paper aims to assess
efficiency of various marketing channels in attracting the EU tourists to Greece and
increasing earnings from its tourism services.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Since tourism is an important industry in Greece, marketing strategy and tools for this
sector have already been analysed in several previous studies. They mostly provided
data on frequency of their use (especially of digital tools) and found the gaps in use
of some channels. Many researchers focused on specific regions in Greece.

Deffner & Metaxas (2006) compared advantages and disadvantages of various
traditional and digital promotional means. For example, television provided high reach
but at high costs. Internet provided high selectivity for target audience and interactivity
at relatively low cost. Only some of them were mentioned as suitable for promotion at
the international and European level (internet, magazines, newsletters, brochures, direct
mail, exhibitions and partnerships with other cities). Other means could be more
efficient at the national or regional level (television, radio, newspapers, billboards).

Andreopoulou et al. (2014) used multiple criteria to assess digital marketing in rural
tourism enterprises in Greece and selected optimal cases for benchmarking. Ziakis &
Vlachopoulou (2023) analysed digital presence of Greek tourism companies and
identified the gap in implementing a comprehensive digital marketing strategy.

Websites are the main digital marketing channel for most of the enterprises. Velentza
& Metaxas (2023) used a questionnaire of Greek hotel, food and beverage businesses
to provide a comprehensive assessment of trends in digital marketing. As for website
features, 71% accommodation enterprises use Google Maps, 61% Google my
business, 54% responsive and mobile friendly websites, 34% newsletter, 4% a blog.
61% offer online booking. Koliouska & Andreopoulou (2023) evaluated 48 websites
of the alternative tourism enterprises in the Prefecture of Serres including ecotourism,
heritage tourism, dark and gastronomic tourism.

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