Nets spread beneath olive trees during the harvest near Sitia, in Lasithi, Crete, on Saturday 7 December 2024. Photo: Petro Stelte/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Greece Launches Tag Greece to Draw Travellers With Local Food

by · Greek City Times

Tag Greece, a new Ministry of Tourism initiative, aims to give Greek food and agritourism a strong, recognisable identity, so travellers come to taste the country, not just visit it.

Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni presented Tag Greece at an event on Thursday 29 October. Its name stands for Tradition, Agrotourism and Gastronomy.

The plan links flavours, local products, producers and traditions with the people of hospitality, food and farm tourism. Kefalogianni said it brings each region’s tastes, customs and people into one national framework.

A bigger place in Greece’s international promotion is the goal, she said. In addition, Tag Greece should offer more reasons to travel to different destinations all year round.

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Tag Greece is open to producers and to visitable units holding a Ministry of Tourism quality label. Food and hospitality businesses, as well as local bodies, can also take part.

How Tag Greece will work

Its main tool will be a dedicated website with an interactive digital map. The map will show businesses, producers and gastronomic routes, and it will connect to the redesigned national tourism website.

When it goes live, visitors will be able to search for options and see what each region offers, Kefalogianni said. They can pick routes, products and businesses to visit.

Alongside the map, the Come Closer campaign carries the central message “Come closer to Greece” across two videos. It invites visitors to get to know a place, along with its people, flavours and traditions.

At the same time, it speaks to the producers and businesses behind farm stays and gastronomy. It also aims to build a stronger network among them.

The campaign draws on nature, farmland, local produce and hospitality. It targets international travellers as well as Greeks who want to discover their own country’s destinations and flavours.

Funding for Tag Greece comes from a Ministry of Tourism project backed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Advertising will run in public spaces, on transport and on social media.

The campaign will appear at travel fairs at home and abroad too.

Kefalogianni said ads have begun on international, national and local television and radio. Online advertising and print placements in Greece and overseas are also part of the plan.

The agritourism initiative will tour the regions with workshops and technical meetings, plus information events in city centres. Producers and tourism professionals can then learn how to join.

Wine, cheese and olive mills

Kefalogianni linked agritourism, food tourism and wine tourism to growing demand for experiences close to nature, culture and everyday life.

In particular, she praised winemakers who are reviving indigenous grape varieties. Chefs who use local ingredients to give Greek culinary tradition a modern voice won her praise too.

Connecting these activities with tourism can widen markets for local products and strengthen small businesses, she said. It can also create jobs, so residents, especially young people and families, can stay and work at home.

Overall, Kefalogianni placed Tag Greece within a strategy to spread tourism more evenly, both between regions and across the year.

Greece first defined wine tourism and agritourism in law in 2014, long before Tag Greece. It also created a Special Agritourism Label and a Visitable Winery Label.

Later, the winery label became the model for certifying visitable breweries, cheese dairies, olive mills and distilleries. A National Wine Tourism Council followed in 2023, along with rules allowing accommodation and restaurants inside wineries.

Kefalogianni also pointed to her talks with UNESCO leaders in Paris, which explored how tourism can showcase intangible cultural heritage.

Food, agritourism and wine tourism can connect visitors with each region’s traditions, stories and know-how, she said. They also support the people who keep those traditions alive.

At the Tag Greece event, regions including Crete, Epirus, the Peloponnese and Attica presented their gastronomic offerings to guests.

Deputy Tourism Minister Anna Karamanli attended, along with Angeliki Varela, president of the Greek National Tourism Organisation (EOT). Ambassadors and embassy representatives from 16 countries joined them.

Source: travel.gr

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