The
“Discount Holiday” Campaign was created to support both the
visitors of Kefalonia island and of course the Greek people. Its main
mission is to attract more summer tourists to Kefalonia Island, which
will increase
workload and will open many new work spaces. More work spaces
means less unemployment.
Lets
analyse the two different missions this campaign is designed to
accomplish at once.
1)
Reduce Unemployment
Greece
mainly survives on tourism, and Kefalonia Island is not an exception.
What is more, Kefalonia Island fully depends on summer tourism. The
season starts in May and ends in October usually. Unfortunately, for
different reasons, the tourism industry has recently decreased. The
main reasons I would like to talk about is the economical crisis and
the earthquake on Kefalonia Island in January and February of 2014.
As
much as I remember July and August were the months, when Kefalonian
Island was packed with Greek Tourists. However, after the economical
crisis began in Greece, people simply do not have money any more to
go on holidays, even to the nearby island. This means that our island
lost its Greek Tourism. It is a big loss if considering that they
would bring the main income in July and August. It meant that now we
mainly depended on foreign tourism.
I
would like to start by underlying that all houses, hotels and other
places in Kefalonia are build according to European Standards for
Earthquakes, which means that it is completely safe for anybody
staying on the island even during a big earthquake. However, after
the earthquakes of January and February of 2014, many people were
misinformed and scared to visit Kefalonian island. This event
decreased our foreign visitors as well.
In
other words Greek and Foreign tourism was suddenly decreased
dramatically. Last summer, there were less cruise ships, less
airplanes and less visitors. Much less workload in all businesses
around the island meant that many people lost their jobs, others
could not cope with the expenses without income and had to close down
their summer businesses, and many young people again left Kefalonian
Island and went in Athens or abroad to look for a better future.
Solution:
The
Discount Holiday Campaign if promoted correctly will build awareness
among people, planning their summer holidays. It is a very attractive
plan. You can use one SmartPayHoliday Discount Card together with
your partner and get a discount everywhere you go around the island.
It means that holidays will cost cheaper, and the cardholder and his
partner will be able to save a good amount of money. We hope and
believe that the “Discount Holiday” campaign will attract many
new tourists to our island, which will increase the workload and help
Greek people, the inhabitants of this beautiful island, to stand
again on their feet.
2)
Help tourists to enjoy fully their holidays
As mentioned above the “Discount
Holiday” Campaign was designed for two reasons. The second reason
is to help many visitors of Kefalonian Island to enjoy their holidays
and do much more than they could afford before. What it means?!
-
Many small and large businesses
around the island agreed to participate in the campaign by offering
different discounts on their products and services.
-
If you are a cardholder, you
and your partner will be able to save a good amount of money, by
paying less in restaurants, coffee shops, different kind of shops in
general, beauty salons etc. You will be able to have fun, by doing
different summer activities, as diving, kayaking, renting a boat or
a car, or even having a good night out, and of course everywhere you
will pay much less, depending on the Discount that the place is
offering.
-
In other words as Benjamin
Franklin once put it: “A penny saved is a penny earned”, meaning
that many couples, not only from abroad, but also from Greece, will
have the possibility to spend less money on their holidays, which
means more people will be able to afford Summer Holidays in
Kefalonia Island.
Looking at the campaign from
this two completely different angles, we came to the conclusion that
it is a win to win situation for both, the inhabitants of Kefalonian
Island and for its visitors. OK so far...
A
little bit about us.
We are two young people, who
live on Kefalonian Island, Work and Care about its future.
Unfortunately, many people still expect things from our politicians,
but we decided to take things in our hands and try and help our
homeland using our knowledge and studies. So we came up with the
“Discount Holiday” campaign idea just a few months ago. However,
we wanted to bring the idea to life as soon as possible. Which meant
many working hours for both of us, long driving hours around the
island, lots of conversations with business owners to explain the
concept and the idea of our summer campaign. We managed a lot so far…
Our campaign is fully our idea and work, so its not supported by the
government, all expenses are ours.
This summer of 2015 we want to
provide the cards for free to all Kefalonian Island visitors. It
means that they would be able to use the card around the island
without paying for any membership. And that’s where we need your
help. As you can understand the cost of advertising, website
building, card printing and distribution raised the cost of each
discount card.
What
we Need and What we Get.
Now we would like to talk about
the funding. Our goal is 30.000 euros. We understand that it is a big
amount of money, however after counting all our expenses we came to
the conclusion that its exactly the amount we need. I would like to
remind that this campaign is not supported by the government, so all
the expenses fall on our small company.
1) Internet Advertising Cost
2) Website Building Cost
3) The cost to design the
Discount Card
4) Printing the Discount Card
(big number of cards, exact number to be confirmed), the printing cost for one card comes to 0,75 Euros.
5) Distributing the Discount
Card
6) The cost of traveling around
the island to talk with all the businesses
7) The cost of advertising
stands and posters around Kefalonia
If
we do not achieve our goal we wont be able to promote our campaign
around the world and of course wont be able to print a large amount
of discount cards and distribute them for free. We will continue our
campaign anyway, however we will have to charge each card to its
user.
The
Perks!
We
want to reward for taking the time to read through the text, watch
our video and contribute. We decided to make our Perks useful, so when you get yours, you can use it in everyday life. Please read about our amazing perks and
choose the one you want.
Stretch
Goal
If we manage to achieve our goal
we do not want to stop there. Additional funding will give us the
possibility to start next year the campaign on other Islands of the
Ionian Sea.
There
are several places on Kefalonia Island that made it popular.
Myrtos
Beach
Myrtos
Beach, one of “the most dramatic beaches in Greece” also voted 12
times the best Greek beach and cited as No 36 in the world in one
widely used travel website. Myrtos Beach was also identified as a
priority destination in a SEPT 2008 review in the Telegraph
Newspaper. And of course that is understandable. The view is
magnificent, breathtaking…
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Only by looking at the clean blue waters with a shade of turquoise in them and the dazzling white pebbles, you are really blown away and the only thought is to drive down the curvy road, which leads to the beach from the village of Divarata. Now, when you have finally arrived to the beach, and you can closely see the waves playing with the pebbles, and curving along the beach, and the sun underlying the beauty of the untouched nature, you can enjoy an unforgettable swim in the glass-clean waters of the Ionian sea…
Melissani Lake
Melissani Lake was first discovered in 1951 and was opened for the public in 1963. The lake water is a mixture of sea water and sweet water. Melissani lake is a jewel of nature that impresses all itsvisitors. A section of the roof collapsed in an earthquake, which created a huge hole on the top of the cave.
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The sunlight that passes through that hole creates shadows and beautiful colors to the waters of the lake. Small boats carry the visitors to admire the spectacular sight of the stalactites that adorn the space. There are many myths and legends about this cave, you can learn about them from the expert guides that perform the excursion for you..
Assos Village
Assos is a small picturesque village located between the famous Myrtos Beach and Fiskardo Village, and 36km north of Argostoli, the capital of Kefalonia. Today, it is fairly believed to be the most charming spot of the island. Dominated by the ruins of a 16th century Venetian Castle, the village of Assos is built on a small peninsula reflecting a warm and cozy atmosphere. The traditional architecture, the peaceful landscape and the pebbled beaches compose the natural beauty of Assos.
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The colourful houses, the lovely paths, the old churches and the hill with the so many green trees add to the picture. In the little tavernas overlooking the bay you can enjoy amazing views of the Ionian Sea hitting the beach, the castle on the top of the hill, and try some fresh fish accompanied with traditional kefalonian house wine. A lovely, long walk to the castle on the top of the hill is quite interesting and will share with you unbelievable, unspoilt, unforgettable views.
I wrote only about three of all the amazingly beautiful places in Kefalonia. We want to share the beauty of our little paradise with other people, we need your support in order to do it. If you contribute and we will manage to promote our campaign to everybody using the internet, and than to print and make sure that every tourist in Kefalonia this summer will be able to use our SmartPayHoliday Discount cards for free, you will contribute to a better tomorrow for the Greek people. We work hard every day, and we need your support and the support of tourism in order to survive after the crisis and the earthquakes that hit our island in January and February of 2014.
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If you can't contribute to our campaign than please help us to build awareness of our campaign and of Kefalonian Island as the most desirable destination for summer holidays 2015.
