The Norwegian edition of the Scandinavian online and print magazine “Travel News,” hosts of the annual Grand Travel Awards, has been released, featuring a headline that highlights the Greek National Tourism Organization’s latest award as the best tourism institution of 2021 in Norway.
Especially noteworthy for Greece is the distinction won by the GNTO for its activities in Norway last year. In announcing the award, the organizers from Travel News emphasized: “During the period when most of the activities came to a halt, the Greek Tourism Office accelerated in a dynamic way.”
The award was announced by the awards Jury to the Head of the GNTO’s Scandinavian office, Mr Pavlos Mourmas. Last year’s event was cancelled due to the pandemic, but this year’s ceremony will take place in Sweden on April 26, where the Greek award will be presented in person by Travel News CEO, David Kurtz.
The online version of Travel News includes an extensive report on the awards (see here). The announcement of the Greek award is presented on page 29, along with a statement by Mr Mourmas:
“Greece is one of the best tourist destinations for Scandinavians, and we are proud to have succeeded in effectively handling the health crisis. Regardless of the measures, we have tried to meet people’s needs for ‘inspiration’ by publishing new travel stories through out advertising campaigns ‘Greece from Home’ in 2020, ‘All You Want Is Greece’ and ‘Greece Does Have a Winter’ in 2021.”
“I have been pleasantly surprised by the decision of the Jury of the Grand Travel Awards for 2022 to award ‘Best Foreign Tourist Office’ to the Greek National Tourism Organization – Scandinavian & the Baltic States,” he added.
“We will continue to work hard to meet our guests’ expectations for inspiration, accurate information and new experiences,” Mr Mourmas concluded.
The Grand Travel Awards, the most important annual meeting of the tourism industry in Scandinavia, have been taking place for 25 years. The event is organized by the magazine and website Travel News in Norway and its corresponding edition in Sweden.
The same media company also publishes the prestigious travel magazine Reis in Norway.
The event was cancelled in 2021 due to Covid but the organizers and the Jury decided to announce the winners of the annual awards and present them in person to those based in Norway. Greece, however, will officially receive the award in Sweden, where the headquarters of GNTO’s Scandinavian office are located.
The members of the Jury comprised the following representatives:
- Kristin Krohn Devold, NHO Reiseliv (Association of Tourism Enterprises of Norway)
- Per-Arne Tuftin, Norsk Reiseliv (Independent Association of Tourism Enterprises, with 15 members having 320 tourism enterprises with 40,000 employees)
- Magnus Wrahme, Royal Caribbean
- Terje Berge, Finn Reise
- Lars Sande, Norwegian Air Shuttle
- Trygve Simonsen, Hertz
- Stephen Meinich-Bache, Classic Norway Hotels
The article was previously published in Greek at moneyreview.gr.
