“Five reasons why you should spend your holidays in this unusual and exciting part of Greece, Halkidiki, in fact the following: water, earth, air, fire and quintessence. To explain the latter well, one should turn to Aristotle, who was born on the Halkidiki peninsula and formulated the theory of the existence of the fifth element of nature. Since it is impossible (to discover this fifth element), visitors to Chalkidiki must content themselves with its imagination in the game of discovering the region, its many beauties and the secrets of its quintessence (…) Along the 550 kilometers of its shores, the waters are iridescent, crystal clear and in places, given the shape and shallowness of the seabed, have Caribbean colors. It is no coincidence that of the 545 beaches in Greece that received the Blue Flag in 2021, 96 are located on the Halkidiki peninsula, which is, of course, the “queen of the Greek coasts”: these phrases are not spoken by a sunflower, a lover of the region or a resident of Halkidiki, but by an Italian. Dr. Sabrina Talarico, President of GIST (Gruppo Italiano Stampa Turistica), the Italian tourism press group.

Dr. Talariko was in the area as part of a program to promote the area in the Italian market, designed and implemented by the Tourist Organization of Halkidiki (TOX) in collaboration with TOX’s PR manager in the Italian market, Eleni Sarikosta. on the occasion of Aegean Airlines’ direct flights from Rome and Milan to Macedonia International Airport in Thessaloniki. Italian journalists and representatives of specialized travel agencies visited Halkidiki as part of three thematic trips designed specifically for them.

“The results were impressive! TV channel LA7 and the show Eden – Un pianeta da salvare, one of the most popular shows in Italy, broadcast a very good tribute to Halkidiki, detailing all three of its peninsulas with links to their history, Aristotle, his wine, his traditional settlements showing footage from the areas of Nea Potidea, Afito, Ouranoupoli, Ancient Stagira, Olympias, Parthenon, Neo Marmara, the exotic beaches of Sithonia and Mount Athos.At the same time, more than eight feature articles have already been published in the largest Italian media, as well as on the official website GIST as a result of a very successful journalistic mission of the representatives of the Association of Italian Travel Journalists (GIST), organized for the first time by TOX in Greece in June in Halkidiki,” today’s announcement highlights.

In particular, the president of GIST published five reasons why someone should visit Halkidiki, the director of ON TE ROAD MAGAZINE M.Falanga suggests road trip routes in Halkidiki, Yannini from the newspaper IL GIORNALE presents Ammouliani and its transformation into a green island, Mr. Lupini, director ITALIA A TAVOLA TV MAGAZINE, tells about the rich gastronomy and local products of Halkidiki. Tomasini from GRAZIA and Lonely Planet IT celebrates the beaches of Halkidiki and offers must-see places, while journalist Mr. Maurizio of La Stampa describes Halkidiki as the “blue-green” paradise of the Aegean. Finally, the newspaper Corriere Della Sera published an extensive article about the hippocampus colony in Stratoni and Enalio.

According to Grigoris Tassios, President of the Halkidiki Tourism Organization, “We are very pleased with the extensive publicity that Halkidiki has received this year in Italy. We are pleased with the results of our work, six years of systematic work in the midst of a pandemic are bearing fruit. Italy is an emerging market for Halkidiki, where arrivals were registering an annual growth of 7-9% before the pandemic. This year, thanks also to Aegean’s direct flights from Rome and Milan, we decided to intensify our efforts and I think the information received was excellent. Of course, we are not resting on our laurels, in October we will take part in the Archaeological Exhibition (Mediterranean Archaeological Tourism Exchange) in PAESTUM with a focus on cultural tourism, as well as in the International Tourism Exhibitions in Rimini and Milan.”